Is it worthwhile for NCR land owners to participate in Salcra scheme?

Kuching, March 6, 2012: Is it worthwhile for the Native Customary Rights (NCR) land owners to participate in the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilation Authority (Salcra), asks former deputy president of the Council of Dayak Customs and Traditions, Nicholas Bawin, today.

He said Deputy Chief Minister and Salcra chairman Alfred Jabu Numpang talked big about Salcra and its so-called millions of dividends which had been given out to the NCR land owners, but in reality, it was not the case.

Take the case of the 30-door Rumah Empirong, Nanga Tutong, for example, Bawin said in the year 2010, each family received a paltry dividends of RM95 only.

"Last year, each family received RM305 and this year, RM350," Bawin told reporters.

He said what he pointed out was true "because I come from the longhouse".

Bawin said land owners from other longhouses received slightly more.

"Salcra is supposed to help the poor land owners, but with the small dividends they reach yearly, how could their economic well-being be improved?" he asked.

Bawin also complained about the unreliable water supply to 21 longhouses in the Batang Ai resettlement scheme, a far distance from the Batang Ai dam.

These longhouses were formerly from areas which were now submerged by the dam.

The government made many promises to them, but at the end of the day, each family was given three acres of land in the resettlement scheme.

Bawin said there should not be any problem for the water supply to reach each family in these longhouses.

"But what we experience regularly is that there are often interruptions of water supply to our homes.

"There should never be any problem because the source of the water is from the big Lemanak River. Why is it that we have this kind of problem?" he asked.

Bawin said after a heavy rain up the catchment area, the water that came from the tap was very muddy.

He said there used to be logging activities up the Lemanak River the past, but because the logging activities were so intensive and extensive, it took years for the trees and plants to grow in the logged-over areas.

He said rain water from these areas washed the mud into the river, the main source of fresh water supply of the longhouses, and that was why the water that came out of the taps was muddy and polluted.