Kundasang: The group of people who cleared the land between the Desa Cattle and Dream World Resort area claim having no intention to destroy the environment there.One of them, Japiril Suhaimin, said the felling of several huge trees there was to clear the area to build a balai raya during the gotong royong on a land they had identified to be their new settlement.
The people from several villages here were looking for a place to build their new homes because at present they were threatened by landslides.
"The villagers have no other choice but to look for a new place, which is stable and safe. They could not wait any longer," he said claiming to represent about 480 families from six villages who have agreed to look for an alternative site to resettle.
The villages were Kampung Lembah Permai, Dumpiring, Desa Aman, Sinisian, Giman and Kundasang Lama.
The area identified by them was a 200-acre land that belongs to the State Government, which was gazetted by the Berjaya government in the 1980s for Sinar, which was known now as the Human Resources Development Department before handed over to Insan, the government training institute.
"Since the land has been left idle for quite some time, the villagers who are also natives in the area believe it is not wrong for them to build their new homes rather than wait for disaster to happen in their present places," he said.
In fact, he said the proposed area would be more attractive as the settlement planned would be done properly and could be another tourism attraction here. According to Japiril, the application had been submitted to the Government.
The Daily Express on Friday reported that tourists and tour guides were shocked to see the tree felling in the area and said the manner it was carried out was like there was no government.
State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, who is an Assemblyman of Keranaan in Ranau, said the reason for the unusual increase in landslides in Kundasang and Ranau lately were due to greed on the part of various quarters. Five landslides occurred the past week alone affecting travel and causing damage to water pipelines.
Masidi also said simply occupying an empty land by villagers for whatever reason was unacceptable as such action could lead to complications for the authorities and go out of control.
He said he was informed about the group's actions about two weeks ago and duly informed Ranau District Officer to get in touch with the relevant government departments to take appropriate action.
"I also informed the State Secretary to direct the relevant departments to take necessary action. The illegal occupiers who were felling the trees are local villagers who want to set up a new village there," he said.
Apparently they were emboldened to move in as the owner (government agency) does not seem interested in developing their land nor in a hurry to protect their property rights by fencing up the area.
"The Director of Land and Survey Department confirmed that their officers has gone there to advise the villagers to cease illegal occupation of the land but the advice was ignored," he said.
He said he would leave it to the agency as the owner of the said land to take appropriate action before the situation gets out of control.
"To me, the department concerned should immediately take possession of their land to ensure no illegal encroachment É we cannot blame people for illegal occupying land if the owner itself did not do anything about it," Masidi said.
"What had been raised by the visitors (in the Daily Express) should be made as food for thought by all the enforcement agencies.
Once we have a rampant clearing of land, it would be just a matter of time landslide coming into the picture, just like what is happening in Kundasang," he said.
"It is (because of) human greedÉ(and also) we do not plan our development properly," he said.
