The death knell sounded for Stephen Kalong Ningkan without his knowing when he mooted the idea of granting titles for native lands in 1963. Unlike the stalwarts of SUPP, Ong Kee Hui and Stephen Yong, who had opposed the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, Ningkan had formed SNAP and embraced the Sarawak Alliance with the support and blessing of Tunku Abdul Rahman. It was a decision that Ningkan would live to rue as the tumultous constitutional events that led to his sacking, would prove.
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Skullduggery started almost immediately with Ningkan's radical native land title proposal. There were certain well-placed political leaders in the Sarawak Alliance who saw the idea of granting titles to native lands as anathema. Such a situation would create a wealthy class of natives, particularly Ibans, who would then form the core political power in Sarawak. No, that could not be permitted.
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A land title, even if it is native land title, is valuable. It means that anyone who wants to use the land, say, for logging, or mining, or hydro-electric dams, would have to negotiate with the native landowners. There would have to be detailed negotiations for compensation, re-alienation, change of land use, and so on. Many steps would be required. In other words, the native landowner would become a key factor in any developmental matters for any native-owned part of Sarawak that was targetted for development. And, more importantly, the native landowner would be entitled to receive fair and adequate compensation.
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That inconvenience was completely avoided mainly by neutralising the political power and influence of Stephen Kalong Ningkan. It was a sad chapter of Malaysia's constitutional history. And, it happened so early in the life of the Malaysian federation. Furthermore, it was done via the declaration of the first emergency in independent Malaysia. And this insidious move was led by Tunku Abdul Rahman, no less!
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No doubt, the ouster of Ningkan started with a rebellion in the ranks of the State Assembly. But history will prove that Ningkan's leadership of the Ibans and other natives and, most importantly, his plan for the enfranchisement of the Sarawak natives by the creation of native land titles, was a major threat to many quarters.
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Let us imagine that Ningkan was successful in establishing a native title system. All native communities in Sarawak would have been given indefeasible title over their land. It would have meant that any party, even the government - whether Federal or State - would have had to negotiate any development plans with the native communities. Native communities would have been able to have a clear voice supported by the law, to impose conditions and obtained fair compensation if they disposed off any part of their land.
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Without any titular and registrable rights in the present Native Customary Land ("NCR") system, the Sarawak native communities have suffered the ignominy of waking up in the morning to the monstrous sound of tractor engines and chainsaws. Their queries to the loggers and contractors are rebuffed with shoulder-shrugs. The natives would be given the go-around to many parties, always based in distant towns. By the time the natives get organised, time would have elapsed and the authorities that made the fateful administrative decisions would be protected by statutory time-bars.
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The present NCR approach to land use in Sarawak is a sham. It is a device that favours the state and well-connected businessmen. The natives who only demand to have the right to live their way of life are completely helpless. Worse still, they have no idea why their world is being destroyed right before their eyes. Trees planted by their ancestors, rocks that have a sacred spirit, rivers from which they fished - things that define who they are - are all gone in a matter of hours, days, weeks and months (no need for years). They have no voice, no say, in the development of their part of Sarawak.
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This disenfranchisement is caused by the absence of land rights. The people of Sarawak must, in good conscience, wake up to the plight of their native brethren, many of whom are languishing in poverty.
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Stephen Kalong Ningkan's political fate was sealed decades ago by controversial means. The leadership of the natives of Sarawak has never been permitted to congeal and be embodied by any one leader. Perhaps it is time to articulate the rights of the natives of Sarawak through a new forum and leadership such as that offered by PKR.
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