Dept apologises to Shareda
Published on: Wednesday, March 27, 2013
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Kota Kinabalu: The Lands & Surveys Department Tuesday extended an apology to Shareda which has been waiting almost two years for the outcome of its application for reversal to the 999-year leasehold land titles.
"We wish to apologise to Shareda which brought the matter to our attention, and requested us to bring this issue to the higher-ups.
But we really need time because this is not an easy matter as it involves titles and properties.
"We had to carry out studies on the issue, including practices in Semenanjung and Sarawak, as well as current practices in the Sabah Lands & Surveys Department. We could only come up with the Official Paper last year," its Director, Datuk Hj Osman Hj Jamal, told a Shareda delegation that called on him.
He said prior to that, the department's Technical Committee met three times to discuss the proposed Paper. "We had to get the views of all officials in the Lands & Surveys Department."
The Sabah Housing And Real Estate Developers Association (Shareda) had applied seeking to maintain the original 999-year lease term after subdivision and conversion of the master title for landowners, developers and house owners, instead of the 99-year leasehold tenure.
Osman described Shareda as a most patient association, saying it is patient enough to wait until 2013. "I believe the State Government will give serious
attention to this outstanding matter which has been highlighted in the media since 2011," he said.
Following the application in September 2011, its President Datuk Susan Wong Siew Guen and her Committee had met up with the Director twice, apart from several letters of appeal in 2012.
Osman said his Department has prepared a technical paper on the issue of Country Lease (CL) 999-year leasehold land titles based on its practices before and after 2000 for the Government's deliberation and approval.
"The next step is to seek the legal opinions of the Sabah Law Association (SLA) relating to three important sections in the Sabah Land Ordinance 1930 (Cap 68)," he said.
These are Section 3 (Saving Clause), Section 40 (Subdivision of Land Title) and Section 54 (Conversion of Land Usage from Agriculture to Residential, Commercial or Industrial Development) that needed to be studied indepth. "As far as the Department is concerned, we have studied the sections before coming up with the paper. We are going to incorporate their opinions into our paper which will be submitted to the State Attorney-General for study. At the same time, we are seeking the AG's legal views on our paper.
"If all the legal opinions are positive on the matter, we will then submit our paper to the Pejabat Hasil Bumi (Natural Resources Office).
Hopefully, Hasil Bumi will also agree. As usual, Hasil Bumi will come up with a Draft Cabinet Paper to be submitted to the Chief Minister as the Minister concerned with land matters under the Sabah Land Ordinance."
If agreed upon, it would be tabled in the Cabinet for deliberation for a resolution or decision on Shareda's application, he told a press conference at its headquarters after briefing the delegation led by Wong.
Others were Deputy President Datuk Robin Loh and Council Members Datuk Ir Chong Hon Len and Johnson Koh Yong Siang. Also present was Deputy Director (Land Development), Mohd Yusrie Abdullah.
Osman, however, he could not decide on when the Draft Cabinet Paper would be tabled "as it is the prerogative of the State Government when to have the Cabinet Meeting."
On why it was necessary to obtain SLA's views, the Director said it would be good for NGOs to present their opinions in the interest of the public.
"It is an ongoing practice to refer to the SLA on anything that touches the Sabah Land Ordinance. If we want to amend the Ordinance, the AG's advice is to include SLA's views. This is exactly what we did when we wanted to amend the Land Acquisition Act."
Asked on the department's stand vis-ˆ-vis Shareda's application, Osman said: "The department would have rejected it if we had not agreed in principle but there is a case and we have to provide the Government with all the information. This includes Court decisions in the Peninsula pertaining to land matters."
He cited a case in Selangor where the landowner or developer asked for a judicial review by the Court against the Director of Minerals (Selangor).
"Based on the judgement, the developer won the case on the grounds that the Selangor Government cannot convert existing freehold titles (in perpetuity) to a 99-year lease term. That is the outcome of the judicial review. This information is also included in the department's paper for submission to the AG and subsequently Hasil Bumi."
Osman was commenting on Shareda's opposing camp's intention to seek a judicial review if the Government could not resolve the Country Lease (CL) 999-year leasehold issue.
In addition, he said there was also a case before Year 2000 whereby the department had approved and issued land titles with a 999-year leasehold tenure after the conversion of land use from agriculture to residential development.
"Ada title begitu, pernah berlaku (There is such a title, it has happened before). However, the matter was later referred to the AG's Office for interpretation of Section 54 of the Sabah Land Ordinance.
"Following the AG's views, we (department) stopped issuing subdivided titles with a 999-year lease for subdivision and conversion of original master titles.
"Then Shareda came in with its application for the 999-year lease to be retained," he said. According to Osman, the Sarawak Land Ordinance does not have a "Saving Clause" unlike the Sabah Land Ordinance.
"Which means titles issued in the past with a 999-year lease before the 1930 Land Ordinance cannot be batal (terminated), and must be continued.
Therefore, we have incorporated all those aspects into our comprehensive paper and it's up to the AG's Office to study it, he said.
Thanking Osman and his team for taking up the case, Wong expressed confidence that the matter would be resolved in due course, to which the Director replied, Insya-Allah (God Willing).
Published on 28th March, 2013 by New Sabah Times 