Land disputes leading to violence – Jeffrey

PINANGAH: State Reform Party (STAR) is warning that the many land disputes happening in many parts of Sabah is becoming more serious and showing indications that they will eventually lead to violence if the government continues to turn a blind eye on them.

In his speech at a land rights demonstration here on Thursday, STAR Sabah chairman, Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan, expressed his utter disappointment that the state government has been neglecting the people despite the fact that the problem has been happening in many years already.

“I can’t understand why the government is not doing much to help our native people who are being chased out of their lands knowing that land matters is within the power and responsibility of the state government,” he said. “Then BN government has been promising to help our people and to protect their rights but it seems to be favouring the big companies instead of the poor people.”

Taking the case of the on-going land problem in Pinangah, in which the people’s NCR land has been approved to a company, Jeffrey lamented that the government is yet to fully respond to the people’s grievances – there is still a huge swath of land yet to be reinstated to the native owners. The area involved is 9,000 acres within the Maxland area, not yet including those under the ownership of two companies. He revealed that in many areas where such problems are happening, the companies are using foreigners to chase the locals away from their lands.

“In Sukau earlier this year, we have a case where the company bulldozers came to bulldoze the people’s houses, and foreigners came to threaten the locals to abandon their village,” he said. “Bloodshed was avoided only because the Tombonuo villages were patient and didn’t retaliate.”

He said the poor people now have to resort to going to court to claim their rights, but being poor they are hampered by financial constraint to hire lawyers, and limited by lack of documentation, hence they are at the mercy of the legal system, of the apathetic government inaction, and of the companies who are using foreigners.

He added that the method of giving communal titles to the villagers is now seen as an unacceptable and temporary solution by the villagers because in the end they become mere participants in the development of the land by companies, and not as owners.

“In this way the whole approach is a clever way of taking away their land, a form of hidden land robbery,” Jeffrey said. “The people have also got fed up with hamper handouts. They want permanent solutions to their problems, not keep getting cooking oil, packets of rice, salted fish and so once in a while. To them this has become an insult because they feel they are being treated like idiots and beggars.”

He pointed out again that this is the result of the state government being controlled by Umno. “Although the state Umno leaders are locals they are still being controlled by the central Umno in the Peninsular which makes the important decisions,” he said. “If the BN/Umno government is truly sincere to help Sabahans, the first thing they need to do is respond to the people’s plea for help with the land problems, or they will face the ire of the people in the coming general election.”

Jeffrey also related his bad experience of visiting Pinangah, going there by boat and coming back by road. “It was a very sad journey, seeing children walking to and from school over dirty roads barefooted for many miles, seeing houses without walls, and the road condition was the worst I have ever seen in my life,” he lamented. “It was not just a case of going over potholes but actual lakes on the road!

“And I wondered what the government has been doing, and what does it mean by ‘Janji ditepati,’ ‘the opposition can only make empty promises,’ and ‘People first performance now.’

“I forgot I was in Sabah because I felt I was in some fourth-world country,” he said.

Also present at the demonstration was the head of the land demand committee, Petrus Eng and his assistant, Aimeh Siman.