KUCHING: Setting-up a native customary right land fund and improving the Dayak customary system will be among priorities for Parti Bumi Kenyalang’s Mary Rita Mathias if she gets elected.

       The candidate for the Machan seat said her plan is for the fund to be used for investment and joint-venture development projects with the involvement of landowners, adding that this investment model would ensure ownership security.

       Mary said improvements to be made to the Dayak customary system would ensure the management body of community leaders and “ketua kaum” would be regulated by a commission instead of the chief minister’s office.

       “This is important to ensure community leaders and `ketua kaum’ are not controlled by political parties and free to make improvements on custom through the commission,” she said on Thursday (Dec 16).

       Mary is in a five-cornered fight for the Machan seat which is located in the Sibu division.

       On her candidacy, the 61-year-old retired civil servant said she decided to contest to convey the people’s dissatisfaction towards the administration.

       “I am banking (my chances) on several factors. I am a local, my academic qualification and my family background in politics,” she said.

       Being a local from Nanga Jagoi in Kanowit, Mary knows every development history in Machan.

       She holds a master’s degree in corporate business administration from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak.