Land disputes: Govt urged to step in, carry out reforms

Land disputes: Govt urged to step in, carry out reforms

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Government needs to intervene in land disputes involving all native customary rights and at the same time carry out land reforms to make land administration, particularly land alienation, fair, transparent and with integrity.

Star Sabah Chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also Bingkor Assemblyman, however, said while it is to be lauded that the elected representatives from Ranau and Kundasang and the Director of Land and Survey have met and come out with statements, the land dispute remained unresolved.

Urging the State Government to intervene soonest and resolve the ongoing land dispute and standoff in Kg Malinsau, Wayan and Sinurai, Ulu Sugut, Ranau, he said the land dispute needed to be seen from the right perspective. "If the villagers/native inhabitants did not form a human barricade with the aid of volunteers of SSPR, an NGO from Ranau, the disputed land would have been totally cleared and destroyed by now.

"Moreover, according to the native villagers, there were no ground surveys and no boundary markers in the disputed land as alleged by the authorities that a proper survey was done," he said.

Dr Jeffrey said that even then it did not stop the cutting down of about 300 rubber trees by the intruding mob with more than 100 foreigners and watched by the police with their vehicles and lorries ready to arrest and cart away the native villagers. "It was not just a case of clearing land for their proposed site office as allegedly reported.

"Luckily, there were no untoward incidents and eventually good sense prevailed and the destruction was stopped pending further negotiations. "Hopefully, a final resolution can be achieved with the native villagers getting to keep their lands and rubber trees that are not destroyed," he said in a statement here Saturday.

Dr Jeffrey said to resolve the land mess in Ulu Sugut, Ranau, and in many similar cases, the Government must intervene to resolve the land dispute and it is hoped that the Government will do so for the rights and welfare of the native villagers.

At the same time, he proposed that the State Government implement land reforms, including respecting and acknowledging native land rights by establishing clear-cut provisions for safeguarding of NCR and other land rights; mandatory provisions for ground survey/inspection and inquiry before land applications are considered; establishing of a Land Tribunal and if possible a Land and NCR Commission and a Native Land Foundation; making provisions for court proceedings to be allowed to challenge disputable decisions of the Director of Land and Survey and Collector of Land Revenue; widen the scope of land use of Native Titles so that the natives get better valuations on their lands and for development without sacrificing native lands to be converted to country leases.

"I hope to propose some suggestions at the next State Assembly sitting in November and hope that land administration to safeguard native customary rights can be further strengthened," he said.

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Land disputes: Govt urged to step in, carry out reforms