I didn’t grab land in Serian, says Manyin

Winston Way 

The minister accuses the opposition of making ridiculous accusation

Sarawak Infrastructure Development and Communications Minister Michael Manyin Jawong has dismissed the opposition’s charges that he grabbed land in his rural constituency, saying that despite the accusation, he still managed to win “handsomely” during the last Sarawak state election.

He said both he and his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) colleague, Roland Sagah, who is the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly deputy speaker, had been charged by the opposition of grabbing three-quarters of the land in Serian.

He was speaking at a handover ceremony of Bumiputera common reserve (agriculture) land here on Tuesday.

He said the Pakatan Rakyat had levelled the accusation against him prior to the 2011 state election, through flyers distributed to the people.

Manyin and Sagah are the state assemblymen for the Tebedu and Tarat constituencies, both either fully or partly under the Serian district.

However, he said the voters did not believe such nonsense, describing it as “ridiculous”, and they (Manyin and Sagah) eventually won their seats.

However, both of them recorded reduced majorities in 2011, particularly Sagah, who in 2006 won with a 3,256 majority, but witnessed a significant reduction to a majority of 1,995 three years ago.

Manyin, meanwhile, had a slight reduction in majority, winning by 4,066 votes in 2011, compared to a 4,256-majority in 2006.

Manyin said the opposition would go to any length for political mileage, including promising native customary rights (NCR) lands when it took over the government.

“This is not easy as people think. Land titles cannot be issued in just one or two days, but have to undergo several processes,” he said.

He also pointed out that even in Pakatan-held states, all was not well despite pre-election promises made by the coalition.

“In Selangor, there are water problems while Kelantan remains the poorest state,” Manyin told the recipients
On NCR lands, he said that as far as the government was concerned, the perimeter surveying of NCR land under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) would continue.

“Native land titles will be issued under Section 18 of Land Code, which means ownership in perpetuity,” he said.

He commended the Land and Survey Departmet for the smooth progress of land surveying in Samarahan Division, in which the Serian district is located.

Manyin, who is also the Dayak Bidayuh National Association chief adviser, said the biggest obstacle in perimeter surveying was disagreement, particularly among siblings and close relatives over boundaries and ownership.