MIRI, Aug 15 — Land and Survey Department which is under the purview of the state government should regularly conduct "Meet The Clients Day” session to solve the problem of rising land disputes in Sarawak.

Sarawak PAS Commissioner Jofri Jaraiee said at the moment the matters cannot be resolved efficiently as the Land and Survey Department Superintendent is difficult to meet and always busy while in the office.

"During the "Meet The Clients Day” session, the department could clearly explain the land problems to the owner so that amicable solution could be found for the relevant parties,” he said in a statement here today.

In the same statement, he said, a group of villagers from Tukau Village led by one of their residents, Hazlan Bakar, has lodged a report with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) here yesterday over the land dispute between the private developer and the villagers.

"They wanted the MACC to investigate how the developer or the company could be given land titles in their village where they had lived there for a long time,” he added.

He said, section 28 of the Land Code clearly stipulated that any party wishing to own land in the area should do a survey first with the knowledge of the villagers instead of being given ownership without any consultation with the villagers.

In addition he said, the villagers had repeatedly appealed to the state government for their village to be provided with all basic facilities such as electricity, clean water supply and paved roads for their convenience.

"We urge the authorities to investigate the case fairly, transparently and to pay attention to the problems faced by the villagers so that their land is not illegally taken,” he said.

He said the land dispute involving Tukau Village should be resolved as soon as possible as they had stayed in the areas for decades but the land was given to the developer without their knowledge.

"Their ancestors were the first to explore the land and had applied for their village to be recognised by the government,” he added. — Bernama