S'kan villagers granted interlocutory injunction
Published on: Sunday, April 24, 2016
Sandakan: An interlocutory injunction was obtained by 19 villagers at Kampung Sinar Baru in Gum-Gum, here, in their bid to restrain the Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) from carrying out any further eviction or demolition or site clearing on 210.20 acres gazetted as Native Residential Reserved since 1988.The court order was granted by Kota Kinabalu High Court Judge Datuk Douglas Primus on April 21, following a law suit filed by five villagers through counsel Datuk Kong Hong Ming.The plaintiffs, Augustine Aling, Juhar Ahmad, Laidin Lambin, Amsarudin @ Sampirit Nurdin and Oyok Philip Mpnsinoh, also named Mohd Hamsan Awang Supain, SMC President and Deputy President, Secretary of Natural Resources Sabah, Sandakan Assistant Collector of Land Revenues, Sabah State Government, Native Chief Awang Damit Abd Rahim and 20 others, including the 19 who encroached into the land, as defendants.
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Prior to this, a police report was lodged by Augustine, 73, who represented the rest of the villagers who are descendants of the native indigenous comprising Kadazan Dusun and Orang Sungai communities, on April 17.Augustine had, in his police report, requested the police to conduct an investigation pertaining to site clearing works carried out at his land under the instruction of SMC Deputy President, resulting in some 155 trees, including oil palm, being mowed down without advance notice.A total of 40 per cent or approximately 80 acres were cleared since the site clearing operation started over the weekend, lamented Augustine, who earns a living on the crops he planted.However, the excavators work at the said land was instructed to put on hold by Hamsan, who was served the order by Kong on Thursday afternoon.
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It was learnt that the dispute over land within the Native Reserve (NR) arose when the Sandakan District Chief and the new village headman started to approve and issue permits described as 'permit menduduki Lot Perumahan Bumiputra' to outsiders who were trespassers, outsiders and/or immigrants (not being the natives of Sabah).However, until today, it is still a mystery why SMC is involved in this inhuman demolition operation of the oil palms planted in the Native Reserve by local villagers who are natives from the Kadazan Dusun and Orang Sungai communities, some of whom are retired government employees and policemen.
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A total of some 4,400 trees, including oil palm and coconuts and other crops, had been chopped down during the site-clearing operation over the last few days, according to the villagers, who were puzzled over the appointment of immigrants as village headman which deprived the interests of the locals.Since 2005, the villagers had made more than 20 police reports in respect of the trespassing events and the destruction of the villagers' crops and house but to no avail, while the local villagers refused to leave the NR despite continuing encroachment, harassment and conflicts caused by the outsiders with the local villagers.The villagers claimed that it is an abuse of power by the Sandakan District Chief and village headman who were in breach of trust as the trustees appointed under the Gazette.Since 2006, some villagers as the aggrieved persons have appealed to the Secretary of Natural Resources, objecting to the trespassing of land in the NR by the outsiders who are mainly immigrants.Despite the lapse of time and some court proceedings, no decision was ever made by the Secretary of Natural Resources for more than 10 years since 2006.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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