82 Chapter 6 | FINDINGS - SABAH CHAPTER 6 FINDINGS - SABAH 6.1 This Chapter, which will discuss the findings for Sabah, contains three sub-sections that correspond to the Terms of Reference of the National Inquiry (ToR). These are issues related to land rights of the natives of Sabah (ToR 2); constraints that impede rights to land (ToR 3); and the effectiveness of responses to land claims (ToR 1). The issues raised in section (i) of this chapter were from submissions and public hearings that were conducted, while section (ii) on the constraints and section (iii) on the effectiveness of responses to land claims were based on analyses after considering all the available information. 6.2 During the Consultations in five districts in Sabah, 407 statements were recorded, of which 24 were considered outside the scope of the Inquiry. For the purpose of the Public Hearings, the statements were categorised and 33 representative cases were selected. It should be noted that since the statements were mainly from the perspective of the communities, the categorisation can only be regarded as a general guide for the purpose of selecting cases during the Public Hearing. Many of these cases also involved more than one issue. I. ISSUES RELATED TO NATIVE LAND RIGHTS Introduction 6.3 The information from the public hearings in Sabah was categorised into seven issues having impact on native land rights: i. Administration; ii. Plantations; iii. Community Land Development Schemes; iv. Logging and Forest Reserves; v. Inclusion of Indigenous Lands into National or State Protected Areas; vi. Commercial Development Projects; and vii. Compensation from Land Acquisition. 6.4 The findings for each category are supported the cases presented at the Public Hearings. The summaries of these cases can be found in a CD in the Annex. i. Administration 6.5 This category is about the processes and procedures of land offices in dealing with land applications by native communities and individuals. Common issues include the slow processing of land applications, issues on survey and land inspection, and recording of Native Customary Right (NCR) lands and territories by the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department (LSD). Based on the statements received, 221 cases fell under this category, the highest among all the other issues. 6.6 The natives of Sabah tend to rely on individual land applications for land tenure rights, although communal land rights are recognized in the form of native reserves and communal titles under the Sabah Land Ordinance (SLO). Two main reasons may be cited for this state of affairs. First, because of the consistent campaign over the years by the LSD for individuals chapter 6_a4.indd 82 7/5/13 6:47 PM