Department of Estate Management

Faculty of the Built Environment

University of Malaya
BMEM 2113

LAND LAW STUDIES

Lecturer:
Dr Sr Anuar Alias

An analytical report addressing issues and problems highlighted on

“the inability of the land administration system in Malaysia to quickly, cheaply
and easily identify all dealings and applications in land and property, as a pre-
condition to development, creating threats to public confidence in the market,
and a barrier to developers.”

Consequently, provide recommendations to improve the present situation (if any).

Prepared by:
Name : Tricia Lim Su Ying
Matric No: BEE 090040
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

ABSTRACT
This report demonstrates the process of dealings and applications by the land
administration system in Peninsular Malaysia which includes registration of rights
and interests, charges, caveats, easement, rights of way etcetera. It also addresses
issues and problems faced that causes the inability of land administration system in
Malaysia in terms of speed, cost and complexity of the process. As land
administration is a precondition to developments, the inability to identify all dealings
and applications efficiently and effectively have created threat to public confidence
and barriers to developers even with the new initiative launched that is the One Stop
Centre (OSC). Therefore, this report will identify sources to this inability and provide
suggestions to improve the situation.

1. INTRODUCTION

Malaysia consists of a federation of States in where each state is responsible for its
own land issues. This is in line with the Malaysian Constitution which provides
massive power to the State Authority in terms of land matters. All States operate a
Torrens System of registration, administered by the State District Land Offices
(Pejabat Tanah Daerah) and coordinated by the State Department of Land and
Mines (Pejabat Tanah Dan Galian).

Overall, the Malaysian land policy comprises legislative instruments, statutory

organizations and statutory controls. These include four major legislations which
regulate matters relating to land law in Malaysia, which are:-
 The National Land Code,
 The National Land Code (Penang And Malacca Titles)1963
 Sarawak Land Code, and
 Sabah Land Ordinance.

These legislations were created to provide regulations in the aspect of land dealings
and application which include the aspects of land tenure, registration of land titles,
transfers of land, leases and charges, easement and other rights.

2
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

However, for the purpose of this report only Peninsular Malaysia in taken into
consideration. Therefore, land administration governed includes the National Land
Code in general, exclusive of Sarawak Land Code and Sabah Land Ordinance.

2. POSITIVES ASPECTS OF THE LAND ADMINISTRATION IN

MALAYSIA

By Integrating the Torrens System of registration in Malaysian Land Administration,

the basic Principle underlain is that all dealing in land must be registered in order to
be effective. This principle is enclosed under section 206 of the National Land Code.

Therefore, the Torrens System that works on two main principles which are Mirror
Principle and Curtain Principle provides the indefeasibility of title and rights, meaning
the ownership are guaranteed by the government.

3. ISSUES AND PROBLEMS FACED

The overall problems faced are the inability of land administration system in Malaysia
to quickly, cheaply and easily identify all dealings and applications in land and
property. This is mainly caused by human factors and legal factors that arises during
the process of applications.

This inefficiency in land administration process in turn creates barriers to developers,

where the process of land dealings and application for developments causes delays
and thus a higher cost of development. The incorporation of One Stop Centre (OSC)
to quicken up development and application process is also inefficient, thus the aim of
OSC has not reduce much of the processing time compared to the previous way of
application process.

The land administration also diminishes public confidence, where the public does not
trust the Land Offices. This is because of the Torrens System where ‘register is

3
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

everything’ and the rights to land of certain person have been taken away. However,
the Torrens System is not to be blamed solely as it is also partially caused by human
factors.

4. SOURCES OF INABILITY

4.1. Lack of Knowledge and Wide Job scope of Land Officers

The inability of land administration might also be caused by the lack of knowledge in
the field of land administration within the State’s District Land Officers. Land Officers
that have been promoted and allocated to District Land Offices do not have the
suitable exposure from their previous position.

Other than that, District Land Officers are usually burdened by a wide scope of
workload, such as the responsibilities as District Officers and involvement in other
meetings with the Local Authorities. This wide work scope has led to absences in
enhancement courses and trainings.

As of today, the government has implemented a digital system of filing or e – filing.

However, as the Land Officers do not have the knowledge and skills to operate and
handle this system, most files are still managed manually. By manual file
management, files might not be arranged accordingly and thus might go missing.
This will in turn contribute to the duplication of documents, leading to fraud and other
misconducts.

To add on that, in this era of urbanisation more applications for land development to
the Land Office and Land Surveying department are coming in. Instead on
increasing the number of employments and balancing out the workload, Officers are
being burdened by even more workload. This will reduce the productivity of Land
Officers as they feel pressurised by overloading of work.

4
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

4.2. Coordination between Different Departments in Land

Administration

Malaysia practices a decentralized land administration office in each State

Jurisdiction. This means division within the federal states of Peninsular Malaysia has
led to different arrangement of bodies and uniformity of practices for land
administration in each state.

Since there is no prescribed organizational structure common to all states, therefore

the land administration is a state government responsibility performed under different
levels of government departments such as District Land Offices, State Director of
Land and Mines Offices and Departments of Survey and Mapping.

Moreover disputes over land matters by the Federal and State Land Authorities in
terms of planning and development of land has caused massive delays in land
development.

Therefore, services such as the state’s cadastral mapping system, land registry and
title office, and Federal own-land management which is within controlled of the
Department of Director General of Land and Mines (Federal) can be found in each
state, integrated through sharing understandings. Today this is assisted by the
computerisation of spatial and non-spatial information

In conclusion, the registration of titles and surveys are done by different

departments. This results in duplications, red tape, delays and backlog in the
registration of FT.

4.3. Complexity of Registration and Application Process

As we all know, the Registration and Application Process in any land matters
involves numerous forms. Problems arise when there are incomplete forms or forms
that do not serve the purpose intended. These forms are either left unattended, as it

5
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

will be a hassle to find out the missing information, or Officers will have to inform or
contact the applicants for further information.

All these problems in processing forms and applications will thus create a backlog,
accumulating more and more applications needed to be processed. This will then
cause delay to the newer applications and registrations.

4.4. Duplication and Repetitive Records

As most records and documentations are still processed manually and in the form of
hard copy, thus to ease findings of records, each record or file is given a unique
code or number. This code is then kept in other sets of record books in different
internal departments. This is done so that departments are able to locate the record
file when needed.

The need of information for the purpose of inspection, application, feedback to

applicants, and presentation of paperwork to the Local Authorities for consideration,
has caused the same information to be recorded in several forms for each of the said
purposes. The Land Officers can either copy by hand or duplicate the information
which will take up much time and cause a lot of unnecessary duplication of records.

Moreover, the need of similar information in different department has caused mixed
up in documents. Where, records were taken out of shelf for reference but were not
recorded in the log book or was not placed back in order which it was taken from.
This will therefore cause the other departments that require the same information in
future, to think that the file or report is missing and thus creating a duplication of
record, similar to which that has been taken.

When similar records are reproduced, the updated information and mistakes might
occur causing the information to differ from the existing records that have been
thought to be missing at that time. Thus, when the former record has been placed
back into order, there will be a repetitive record with similar code but different
information. This difference information will then cause more confusion when land

6
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

dealings come into play, as there are two similar records of the same property but
with different information.

In conclusion, the manual way of handling applications and numerous number of

forms needed for different purposes has caused human error and mistakes to
happen more frequently, creating duplications of records. This duplication of records
in turn causes more confusion within the Land Office and thus delaying the process
of land administration.

5. Land Administration as Barriers to Developers

5.1. Legal Structure

In Peninsular Malaysia, the National Land Code (1965) is the main standard of land
legislation to provide a practical way of land administration.

The National Land Code (1965) is based on the Torrens System which establishes
the ownership of an ‘indefeasible’ title to land. Thus it also regulates all dealings on
land matters, as of Section 340 NLC (1965).

As for planning requirements, the National Land Code (1965) provides procedures
that have to be adhered to for planning applications. This includes land subdivisions
and partitions of land, conversion of category of land use, and the amalgamation to
land offices and land registrars. Conditions as stated in Section 136 and 147 of the
National Land Code (1965) also includes approval or consent from every person or
body that has rights or interest in the land.

As for land development, special procedures such as surrendering restricted lands to

the State Authority and re-alienation to landowners, to remove restrictions of interest
are seen to be a hassle to land developers as it takes up time and cost. Examples
are Malay Reserved Lands and Bumiputra lots for residential use.

7
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

Moreover, restrictions in land dealings or encumbrances such as charges, caveats,

easement, and rights of way etcetera may restrict the supply of land to land
developers, the process of removing these encumbrances however are lengthy and
this will create a delay in development.

In conclusion, all this procedures and requirements for development and land
administration will prolong the time for development, and thus incurring more cost to
land developers on land administration and dealings alone.

5.2. Delays in Land Administration Processes

As of all the factors mentioned above, delays are bound to happen in all
administration processes due to human and other legal factors. However, the delay
in Malaysia’s Land Administration processes in particular has been said to be
deficient compared to other countries.

Below is a comparison of procedures and time taken to process an application

between neighbouring countries in year 2006:-

Although the incorporation of one stop centre (OSC) has been introduced for more
den two years, however the overall objective and massive effect have yet to be seen.
The new initiative by the government is aimed to effectively receive and process
development proposal of land approval, planning permission and building plan. OSC
is a hub that receives the said applications concurrently, this concurrent process of
applications is said to be able to reduce the processing time to 4 – 6 months.

8
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

Though, in current situation, the OSC is unable to be fully utilized because there is a
lack of technical and skilled staffs at the OSC. Other than that, there is no clear
manual on the procedure and guidelines in the OSC. Staffs who are confused with
the unclear procedure, then produces documents which are not part of their work
scope.

Other weaknesses of the OSC include delays from agencies and departments that
may take 14 to 25 days alone. Delays are also caused by requests from Local
Authorities who needs extra documentations or requires the feedback of residents
and professionals regarding the development.

6. PUBLIC CONFIDENCE

The public confidence is diminished through the legal system that is practiced in
Malaysia and also the Land Offices through human factors.

As the National Land Code (1965) is based on the Torrens System, the basic
principle ‘register is everything’ is practiced.

In a recent case for example, in year 2008, 81 villagers have lodged a report with the
Anti- Corruption Agency (ACA) claiming that government officers have ‘seized and
obtained titles’ to a government land in Kedah which they have been working on for
over 20years.

The villagers had paid RM50 to the Padang Terap Land Office in 2003 as processing
fees for their application of land titles to be processed. However, after 5 years of
waiting, they were told to evict as the disputed land had been alienated to another
person.

This has caused the public to lose confidence in both the land administration and the
way the Torrens System has worked out that has failed to bring justice to the
deserving villagers.

9
BMEM 2113 Land Law Studies BEE 090040

This is as oppose to the case of Adorna Properties Sdn Bhd vs Boonsom Boonyanit,
where justice prevailed when the Federal Court had reversed its previous decision
which holds the basic principle of Torrens System where “The title of any person or
body for the time being registered as proprietor of any land shall be indefeasible.”
However, this reversion is made 10 years after the first Court decision that has gave
the advantage to unscrupulous people to acquire properties by fraudulent means.

This kind of loop hole in the both the Land Administration and Legal System has
caused the Public to lose confidence in the Land Administration and Legal System in
Malaysia.

7. CONCLUSION and RECOMMENDATIONS

Overall, the present land administration system is said to be incapable of being

effective and efficient, mainly due to the inefficiency of land information management
in terms of
 Poor technically trained personnel in records management units
 The Manual filing system
 Coordination between departments, and
 Duplication due to ‘missing’ records

For the betterment of the future, suggestions such as:-

 Various training and courses in IT management, and technical be made
compulsory for land officers and staffs.
 The usage of internet technology for applicants to file in their applications, and
to check the status of their applications.
 Usage of Integrated monitoring system.
 Carry out E-submission at a National Level.
 Draw out clear and precise guidelines and workscope of staffs at the One
Stop Center.

10