Media statement by Dr. Hiew King Cheu in Kota Kinabalu on Thursday, 24^th May 2012:

Call for amendment in Land (Subsidiary Title) Enactment 1972

The Federal Ministry of Housing and Local government will table in the coming June sitting of the Parliament a new Act to improve the situation of house owners not being issued with the Subsidiary Titles or Strata Titles for high rise buildings from the developers concerned. The new Act is seeking approval that the Strata Titles to be issued within six months from the completion and a proper management corporation is to be formed.

I supported the idea, and hopes that such measures can be brought in for use to Sabah. This is because there are many existing problems involving the issuance of Strata Titles, and the formation of the Management Corporation (MC).

The many house buyers of the high rise apartments faced difficulties in getting their individual Strata Titles, and some had waited for almost twenty years. The problem arising in the formation of the MC also depends very much on the issuance of the Strata Titles. There are more and more apartments and high-rise residential flats are being built, the work load of the Land and Survey department will get more bundled up day by day, and the delay will be longer.

The proposed new Act to make good the problems on Strata titles and MC by the Federal Ministry is a recommendable move and it is positive. This is some thing that our Sabah Government should be considering to upgrade and amend the similarly related Act in Sabah to improve the situation and speed up the process. The Land Power is in the charge of the Sabah Government, therefore any Federal Land Act can not be applicable to Sabah, but still the Sabah Government can always absorb and take up the good things from there, and to amend our set of laws and Enactments to be suit.

Someone calling it the "West Malaysia set of laws" is in fact wrong. This is because the Federal sets of law are the law for the country, with some exceptions depending on the territories and their individual rights. The Federal Laws on land could not be enforced in Sabah is because under the 20-Points, the land matters is under the Sabah Government jurisdiction and power, and so is the Local Government Laws and Enactment.

It is advisable to adopt the good measures and clauses in the Federal Developers Act to give the Sabahan a better protection and less trouble in the issuance of Strata titles and formation of the MC. The outdated document on Land (Subsidiary Title) Enactment 1972 is already 40 years old, and it is time for some updating work.

* Dr Hiew King Cheu, MP for Kota Kinabalu