Dewan Huguan Siou land title goes missing
Published on: Monday, July 29, 2019
By: Oliver Voon
PENAMPANG: The dispute over the Dewan Huguan Siou in Kg Tuavon, here, where the official ceremony to bestow the Huguan Siou titles on two of the community’s leaders was held is unlikely to be resolved soon.
Daily Express reliably learnt that the original land title for the 0.6 hectare site that hosts a structure in the form of the Siga (Kadazan headgear) has gone missing.
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“The original land title is not even kept in the Council’s office and the staff are now looking for it high and low,” said the source.
It is understood that responsibility for the structure had passed to the District Council in 1992 when the original Kadazan Society Sabah (KSS) to whom it was bequeathed by the landowner was later dissolved.
A controversy arose when the revived KSS made a secret application early this year to the Council inquiring about the outcome of its request to take ownership of the structure.
A group of Kg Tuavon villagers who claimed they did not recognise the KSS, said the land should go to the locals if there was no title.
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They staged a protest at the site recently when they got wind that the property may fall into the hands of a NGO they claimed “contributed nothing to the building”.
Some quarters even see the move by KSS as meant to ensure that whoever succeeds Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan as the second Huguan Siou would have to go through it or require its endorsement. The first Huguan Siou was Tun Fuad Stephens and the position was vacant for nearly a decade following his death in a plane crash on 6.6.1976. KSS is currently headed by Datuk Marcel Leiking.
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A Council spokesman, when contacted, said a special meeting would be called soon to be attended by all parties involved in the matter.
“The District Officer will listen to what they have to say and will make a fair decision,” he said. He also said the Council is not the rightful owner of the property and that the repairs they did before were just as a matter of responsibility.
“I hope the higher authority will step in to resolve this matter quickly,” he said.
Officials from the District’s Lands and Surveys Department and the DO could not be reached for comment. KSS was also approached for comments but has yet to respond.
A dialogue was held to discuss the proposed take-over of the Dewan by KSS on July 21. Chaired by Village Chief Oswin Mojiun, it was attended by the Chairman of MPKK (Majlis Pengurusan Komuniti Kampung), a councillor and a member of KSS who are all residing in Kg Tuavon.
The most pertinent question from the floor was why the Council which collects RM20 million in taxes yearly can’t find funds to maintain the Dewan and proposed to hand it over to a NGO.
To which the councillor replied that the proposal has not been approved yet. The KSS member said the land and building will be upgraded and would still be the property of the Kadazan people.
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