The duo, whose land is located in Kampung Binotungan Suyad, a remote village 190km from the state capital, were among the recipients of native communal titles, which were presented by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman yesterday.
The friends, both rubber tappers, said they had been waiting for the titles that symbolised their “tanah adat” (customary land) was officially theirs.
“I have been applying for native title for my land since 1983 … that’s over 30 years now,” said Madingis, 58, a father of three.
“Today is historic for me as well as the rest of my village folks after receiving these communal titles from the government. We are really grateful,” he added.
Sunjis, 62, was also relieved he could finally work his land without worrying about its future
“I can look forward to tapping my rubber trees and planting vegetables with peace of mind now,” he said.
A total 137 people from their village are beneficiaries of the native communal title scheme, with a combined land size of 552ha. All will share the single common title.
Their village, which is only accessible by a dirt road, is among five that were granted the native communal titles in Kota Marudu. They cover 2,730ha.
The native communal title is a land ownership system for natives applying for their “tanah adat”, based on native customary rights.
This system is meant to protect their rights to customary land as sale of the land is prohibited.
Pantas way to apply for land titles
Musa also presented 407 individual native titles to recipients from three villages under the Sabah Native Land Services (Pantas) programme, covering 435ha.
Kampung Marak Parak head Gustin Sangki, who was one of the Pantas recipients, was delighted his application went through in a relatively short time. He had applied for the land only two years ago.
The 57-year-old said people in his village had their reservations as to whether this programme could yield faster results, considering many of them had applied for the native titles more than 10 years ago.
“The Land and Survey Department held a briefing in the middle of 2016. Then in March 2017, the department director himself came to explain to us about the programme and we were convinced.
“Thankfully, today, we have received our individual native titles. We only had to wait one to two years,” Gustin said.
Pantas is a fast-track programme aimed at giving land titles to natives who have been occupying and cultivating land for generations but still do not possess a title to the land.
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