Leiking tells the DO to verify
Published on: Tuesday, November 25, 2014
KOTA KINABALU: Penampang MP Darell Leiking urged the Police, Immigration and Local Authorities to be serious in dealing with the issue of squatter colonies in the Penampang district. "Yesterday a picture was given to me about the squatter colony in Penampang located a fence away from SK Penampang. "I understand it is on private land and the owner is entitled to lease out his land but it must be in compliance with the land ordinance. Whether or not these squatters are legal is another thing. ADVERTISEMENT "What concerns us most is this matter is not new, it has been around for 10 years. The people have complained before and the police have come over and yet there is no concrete action nor authenticity as to the status of these squatters."If they are illegals who have been allowed to build houses and live on these lands, then immigration and local authorities should take action to ensure security and to comply with the law."Its location so close to the school makes me fear for the children there because anything can happen and I think that every teacher and parent wants first is the safety of their students and children.ADVERTISEMENT "The new Penampang District Officer Luvita Koisun should be the first to verify the Status of these people because she is the Assistant Collector of Land Revenue for Penampang and we would be able to tell if these squatters building on the land title have complied with the land ordinance."This is something I would pursue with the District Officer but I feel sometimes that matters such as these should be looked into when they first hear about it because this is in line with the State and Federal Governments Policy of 'People First, Performance Now'."
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He said the Kg Kobusak area also faces a similar situation. "I went there and noticed a private land there with 50-60 squatter houses. While the owner is entitled to do houses like that and rent out in compliance to the land ordinance, I feel the authorities should check on their status." Meanwhile, Leiking said there is no reason why the Government cannot table the Royal Commision of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah (RCI) in Parliament and the State Assembly. "We want the government to table the report on the presence of illegal immigrants in Sabah in the current sitting of Parliament. This is the last week that Parliament sits. "Urban Wellbeing Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Rahman Dahlan had informed us in October this year that the Prime Minister will table it in Parliament. Subsequently Home Minister Datuk Zahid Hamidi had also said the same thing when it came to the birth certificate issue."Zahid said (then) we have a concrete solution to the birth certificate issue and we will also discuss this in Parliament when the Prime Minister tables it in Parliament. However, Darell said that unfortunately last week the Prime Minister announced that RCI will only be revealed to the public in December."This is very sad because (I feel) you can only really debate the issue in Parliament. If you set up a committee headed by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Pairin Kitingan like the Prime Minister proposed, who is going to debate the RCI recommendations or findings other than the committee itself and this committee may even do so in private behind closed doors."Who are they going to call to give their opinions or critique to other than academics or concerned people or politicians who are going to speak about it without coordination.But if they were to debate the matter in Parliament and at the same time revealing it to the public, we can debate it in coordination and we can ask the PM where the PM has to reply also on the same day he debates it and the public can pressure the members of parliament to ask questions. Darell said also in relation to this, he felt the Federal Constitution especially pertaining to Article 160 should be debated. "Article 160 says the Federation refers to the Malayan Agreement 1957. "There are two schools of thought on this. One of them will say what happened to the Federation of Malaysia that was formed in 1963. "I would go on this but I would also go on that maybe we can take advantage of it by saying the defination of the Federation which refers to the Malaya Agreement 1957 may well be our clear exit from any accusation that we are part of the Federation. "We are rather 'special' in that Federation whereby the Federation there meant only West Malaysia. "Sabah and Sarawak exists because if you read the whole Federal Constitution together there are specific laws that are only special to Sabah and Sarawak. "With that we can probably take this particular stand that the 'Malays' they refer to in the Federal Constitution refers only to the Malays of West Malaysia whereby the Sabah and Sarawak have a different type of Malay. "The Bumiputras of Sabah and even the Malays of Sarawak cannot even buy Malay reserve land in the Peninsular likewise the Bumiputras from Peninsular cannot buy native lands in Sabah and Sarawak. "So that only proves to us that even while we are (at a) loss to the defination of the Federation of Malaysia there is probably a clear and present signal to say that we are a partner in the Federation whereby we are not even included in that Federation defination. "Because if Sabah and Sarawak were ever to have been included it should have been under the Malaysia Agreement 1963."Now going back to the RCI, in that sense this RCI report that was completed six months ago, should not only be debated in Parliament but also be debated in the State Assembly. "Afterall Immigration as to who enters Sabah is still very much Sabah's choice. Today Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izah Anwar sent me a message she was facing a bit of a problem in entering Sabah (at first) but eventually she got in.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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"Now that only proves the power of Immigration in Sabah. Bersih Co-Chairperson Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has been denied entry through a formal letter and this only proves that Sabah is in charge of its immigration. "So when it comes to the RCI I think we should also be debating this in the State Assembly so every Sabahan representative can have their say on behalf of their electorates on what is best for the future of the State.