1,500 Beluran villagers to be relocated

Kota Kinabalu: Over 1,500 villagers in the east coast Beluran district who are facing eviction from the land they had been occupying for some 50 years are likely to be resettled.The Beluran District Office is now identifying a relocation site for villagers of Kampung Air, who have been given until April 30 to move out from the area they have lived in since 1965.

Beluran MP Datuk Ronald Kiandee said the welfare of the affected villagers was the utmost priority.

"We are looking at various options to help them and the District Office is also looking into various legal issues pertaining to this matter," he said.

The villagers had always assumed that Kampung Air was village reserve area as the Government had provided for a village chief apart from setting up the area's security and development committee.

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They found out that the land was privately owned after the company developing the land erected a notice on Feb 12 informing the villagers they had just over two months to vacate the area.

Kampung Air Village Security and Development Committee Chairman Andaraman Kahar, who was among leaders who met Beluran District Officer Suhaili Riman on Monday, said many of those affected had accepted that they would have to move out from the area.

"Our hope is that the Government can provide us a site for us to rebuild our lives," he said.

Andaraman said among possible areas for the relocation of the Kampung Air villagers was a piece of land about 3km from Beluran town.

"We hope the Government will provide things like roads as well as water and electricity supply to the relocation site," he added.

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Ronald said the village was established in 1965 and the initial occupants were members of the ethnic Tidung community.

In 1986, however, the Beluran district land utilisation committee, which included the District Officer and the Assistant Collector of Land Revenue, approved an application from an individual for that kampung land. He said the approval reflected carelessness on the part of district officials then.

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