Relief for villagers of Kampung Ulu Keningau along Jalan Kimanis

27th March, 2015

By MARUTIN ANSIUNG

KENINGAU: The villagers of Kampung Ulu Keningau, Jalan Kimanis can heave a sigh of relief after an applicant of a 50-acre land in their settlement has been told to leave the area.

Community leaders in three villages who had strongly objected to the land application expressed their gratitude to the Lands & Surveys Department and its office in Keningau for promptly issuing the notice to the applicant.

Samalang village head Aliman Nulantan said they were grateful to the department for quickly attending to their plight and expelling the workers who were already clearing the land in Kampung Ulu Keningau since a week ago.

We highly appreciate the efforts of the department in solving the dispute by making a check on the land application PT 2012131415 by one Thien Swee Jin @ Annie Thien and then confirming it as invalid because the location of the land applied for was at Mile 16 of Jalan Kimanis, said Aliman yesterday.

He also hoped that the land application by Annie Thien will be cancelled with immediate effect and the area given to the residents in the villages of Samalang, Keningau and Ulu Keningau who are the early settlers in the area. On Tuesday the local newspapers highlighted the land dispute with the three community leaders expressing their strong objection after discovering the 50-acre area had been applied for even though the villagers had previously submitted applications twice.

They applied in 1976 and again in the 1980s but were denied because the Sabah Parks did not permit land in that area to be applied for settlement.

The community leaders are Native Chief Representative (WKAN) Jassin Lumau, Samalang village head Aliman Nulantan, Keningau village chief Joanis Doimpin and Ulu Keningau village chief Petrus Langkihang all expressed their objection to the application on the basis that the area applied for had been settled by local villagers since the 1980s.

They had asked the State government and the relevant authorities to intervene in the dispute.

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Relief for villagers of Kampung Ulu Keningau along Jalan Kimanis