"After learning that the government had given titles to their Native Customary Right (NCR) land, many natives residing along the Bintulu-Miri Road have gone to check at the department but to no avail," said Member of Parliament for Bintulu, Dato' Seri Tiong King Sing.

The staff had either informed them there were no such files or the files could not be traced from the archives.

Expressing dismay at the irresponsibility of the staff, he said their poor working attitude had tarnished the image of the government.

"Why can't the files at the department be traced when each has to be recorded accordingly?"

"I feel obliged to bring up the poor working attitude of the civil servants to Prime Minister Datu Seri Ahmad Abdullah Badawi"

"What is the point of Members of Parliament or wakil rakyat helping the people at the grassroots level when certain civil servants refuse to cooperate,?" he said.

Tiong was speaking to the press after visiting 14 longhouses and holding a meet-the-people session in the Bintulu-Suai area.

He pointed out the Land and Survey Department ahd been surveying NCR land in the area since 1968.

Tiong also expressed his disappointment at the Public Works Department (PWD) for awarding the maintenance of roads in rural areas in Bintulu Division to a Kuching-based contractor.

He said the longhouse folks had sought the help of PWD to repair and improve some of the roads which were muddy and full of potholes.

"But they were told that the contractor, not the department was responsible for the maintenance"

"As an government agency PWD must take the initiative to instruct the contractor to do the maintenance works once the poor folks seek its assistance," said Tiong.