Nancy Lai
PENAMPANG: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) yesterday launched its Sabah Land Reforms which it will implement if the party is given the mandate to form the state government.
Party president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said SAPP is very concerned about the land problems faced by the natives in the state as they are increasingly losing their cultural heritage and space as a result of land alienation to government agencies and big companies.
Their loss is also due to the history of sale of NT lands by earlier generations of native land owners to private companies, he said in his speech at the launching ceremony yesterday.
Yong lamented that the crisis has been severely compounded by the many instances ofland grabs by big companies.
Villagers, he pointed out, are being forcibly evicted from forest reserves even though the law provides for the enhancement of traditional villages as 'forest communities' within forest reserves.
"Some villages have even been in existence before gazetting of the forest reserves. This displacement of natives from their rural lands will cause geographical dislocation among natives and make them squatters in their bwn ancestral land, leading to the inevitable social instability and socio-economic problems for future generations of all Sabahans.
"The massive loss of land is a problem not confined to only natives. Other Sabahans are rapidly losing their homesteads and agriculture lands. Urban residents can no longer afford a landed house and Sabahans are fast becoming tenants in their own state,” he pointed out.
According to Yong, the fear of being unable to obtain a renewal of their expiring land leases is a real thing and depressing intimidation caused by the failure of the government to renew land leases.
He disclosed that SAPP had recently received reports concerning 824 cases on land issues in 24 districts.
Yong also said that cases involving villagers being evicted and their houses demolished either by the government or companies owning the land is very serious and is happening right now.
"Some villagers from affected areas in Sukau wanted to be with us today but were not able to come because they fear that their houses will be demolished while they are away," he said.
According to Yong further, in 1997, the state government had set up four task forces to look into the land application issue in Sabah and was able to settle 48,000 cases in one year.
SAPP he stressed, reaffirmed Article 4 of the party's constitution which is to promote and protect the rights and interests of local natives and other citizens in Sabah.
As a people-based political party, SAPP desires to fulfill its mission to establish a trustworthy government and a progressive, just and harmonious society, Yong said, adding that the land reform policies are the party's firm commitment to the people that SAPP, as a government would steadfastly implement.
"It is on the basis above that SAPP has been working very hard for two years to formulate the land reform policies which were approved by the party's supreme council on November 4," he said.
The Borneo Post
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Page A4
The land issues needs to be taken seriously, hope that the people's land rights will be protected.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how this Land Reforms will help protect the people's rights after this.
ReplyDeletekita tgk adalah ia benar2 dpt membantu selesaikan isu tanah.
ReplyDeleteall the while when SAPP helmed the State Government with Yong Teck Lee as the Chief Minister, he did many destructive things, chief among them giving away valuable land to outsiders. in a mere two years, a huge chunk of Sabah’s wealth fell into the wrong hands.
ReplyDeletewhen he was the chief minister, lands allocated to natives were actually ‘stolen’ and given to public-listed companies. a good example is the Tongod Region where not less than 20,000 acres of land earlier set aside for native socio-economic projects, under the ‘Tongod Regional Planning Study’, mooted during the Berjaya era, were given away to a public-listed company. this is blatant Daylight Robbery..
ReplyDeleteterserah kepada rakyat sama ada mereka mempercayai YTL lagi atau tidak..
ReplyDeleteThey better be serious with this motion instead of saying this for political gain or sweet talk only.
ReplyDeleteMulalah SAPP mahu mencari publisiti dengan menggunakan masalah utama untuk menjadi isu mereka.
ReplyDeletejika SAPP benar2 ikhlas mahu selesaikan masalah tanah di Sabah, saya pun sokong usaha mereka. jangan tunggu sampai dapat mandat memerintah barulah mahu perjuangkan hak dan kepentingan rakyat ke atas tanah.
ReplyDelete