Kota Kinabalu: The Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) suggests that enforcement by the relevant government agency should in future be quick and efficient against those it deems to be "squatting" in forest reserves. "The authorities should not wait until people have settled on the site for many years before evicting them. The relevant authorities should regularly monitor the situation and inform people as early as possible that they have trespassed into a forest reserve," said Heflin Dino (pic), case investigation officer cum Assistant Secretary of Suhakam Sabah Office.
ADVERTISEMENT
It was not known why previous State Governments had failed to act on the matter and the Forestry Department had lamented that those who could have done so earlier did not.It also proposed a review of domestic land laws and other related laws and policies, with a view to incorporating a human rights focus therein, addressing, in particular, the problems faced by indigenous peoples in their land claims. The proposals follow a ground investigation of Kg Bobotong in Tongod, where 16 out of 60 structures of villagers were demolished by the Forestry Department on March 16 for what the latter said was squatting on a gazetted forest reserve.However, the villagers told Suhakam that their forbears had applied for the land back in 1984, but the LA (land application) was rejected by the Forest Department as fake.
ADVERTISEMENT
The villagers claim to have been living in the village for 38 years and pointed to graveyards, fruit trees, and other agricultural and commercial crops planted by them. They further claimed that they had been living there before the area was gazetted as a forest reserve.In its preliminary report, the commission confirmed that mostly houses had been demolished and not huts and "sulaps" as claimed by the Department.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Commission's other recommendations are for the Government to excise the area on the grounds that the people had already settled there before it was gazetted as a forest reserve.The commission also recommended that in the event the people are found to have indeed encroached into the forest reserve, the government should consider treating it on a case-by-case basis depending on circumstances, taking into consideration such facts as the length of time they have been living in the area.Heflin said Suhakam would bring up its preliminary report to the Sabah Forestry Department next week.Suhakam Act 597 4(1) states its duty 'to inquire into complaints regarding infringements of human rights' referred to section 12 of the Act, an investigation has been conducted by the Commission.Malaysia is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The declaration requires states to consult and cooperate in good faith with indigenous peoples in order to obtain their free, prior and informed consent before adopting and implementing legislative or administrative measures that may affect them.Under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People Article 8 (2) (b) the states shall provide effective mechanisms for prevention of, and redress for: Any action which has the aim or effect of dispossessing them of their lands, territories or resources and Article 10 Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories."I saw some personal belongings still strewn on the ground. There were three or four huts. But most of them were homes," Heflin said, according to the villagers, even if they were illegal settlers as far as they were concerned there was no way of them knowing it at the time when their parents first came to settle in the area."They told me no one had ever come to tell that it was a forest reserve. There was not even any sign at that time," he said. Mannan had said that the forest reserve system was established by law in 1965 and claimed that the villagers only came to settle in the 1990s.Village JKKK chairman Jimmy Iban insisted that he and fellow villagers' parents first settled in the area in 1979 when it was not yet gazetted as a forest reserve. According to Heflin, the reason the villagers refused to take up the Occupational Permit (OP) offered by the department was because accepting it would mean that they agree with the illegal settlers tag.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
