Mordi Bimol said the problem is prevalent in rural areas. Citing his constituency as an example, he said: “In Mas Gading, applications for the renovation of religious premises were rejected because there’s no land title.”

Mordi, who is half Bidayuh, told FMT that under the Sarawak Land Code, NCR land is land occupied by the indigenous communities before Jan 1, 1958. While these rights are recognised under Sarawak law, the red tape made it almost impossible for land titles to be issued.

Mordi said when one wanted to build a church, or houses for the poor, the contractors would need to obtain a land title from the land and survey department, which was also required to produce a supporting letter for the project.

“But the department cannot provide a supporting letter because there is no land title,” he said.

The impact cuts across religious and ethnic lines. “It is even difficult to renovate the Chinese temple in Mas Gading,” he said, and the problem also affected federal programmes such as housing projects for low-income groups.

“In fact, the people are willing to pay a monthly instalment of RM300 to RM400 for the homes, but they cannot apply because there’s no land title,” he said.

Land titles are also needed by farmers who wanted to apply for agricultural grants, he said.

He said the issue had persisted despite federal funds being set aside every year to resolve the matter. “But we only see results during elections,” he said, and wondered if such an approach was taken to woo voters.