Don’t be a stooge, Yong tells Masiung

KOTA KINABALU: Kuamut assemblyman Masiung Banah should not allow himself to be used by other political parties to belittle his own party leaders, said Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee. 

He said United Pasok Momogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Organisation (Upko) had recently been rocking the Barisan Nasional (BN) boat by making noises and calling for the setting up of the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to resolve the long standing illegal immigrants issue in Sabah.

"The Kuamut YB (Yang Berhormat) should be careful in not being used by Umno to belittle his party leaders (Upko president) Tan Sri Bernard Dompok and (deputy president) Datuk Wilfred Bumburing," said Yong in a statement yesterday when commenting on Masiung’s criticism of him (Yong) during the state assembly sitting on Monday.

Masiung had when debating the government policy speech questioned Yong's role over the approval of some 30,000 hectares of land to two grant companies, Corak Nakhoda and Asiatic, in Kuamut during his terure as the chief minister.

Seeking detailed information on the matter from the state government, Masiung stressed that the opposition are playing up the issue in an attempt to appear as heroes in championing the people's rights and welfare.

"On the companies approved in Kuamut, a major shareholder was the Kadazandusun Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) led by Upko leaders, one or more of whom are directors of the company. These are the leaders who should speak up, not the current Kuamut newbie YB," explained Yong.

 

He further disclosed that during his briefterm as the chief minister, thousands of native titles (NTs) were issued to natives in Kinabatangan, including Kuamut, some of which were personally handed over by himself in the presence of the local YBs (elected representatives) at the time.

"It seems that Dompok, in his nine months as the chief minister after me, had continued to hand over some NTs issued by the Land and Survey Department's special task force.

"As known to the public, the powers to approve land and forests were transferred from the chief minister to the cabinet on June 17, 1996, three weeks after I was appointed chief minister.

"These two top Upko leaders were senior members of the cabinet during my tenup between May 28, 1996 and May 27, 1998, and they were fully involved in cabinet decisions, including setting up the special task force to issue land titles to villagers," Yong explained, adding that Dompok took over the post on May 28, 1998.

Ho, however, stressed that the issue on Native Customary Right NCR) over lands settled by natives was never a problem, until recently.

"This is because any land that is approved by the state government to anybody was still subject to the prior right of NCR existing on the land concerned," he said.

Yong said the state government needs to urgently resolve the land grabs and evictions of natives from forest reserves as a result of the present state government's legal invention that NCR would not exist after 1930.

"There are seven lawyers in the State Cabinet (referring to Tan Sri Joseph Pairin, Datuk Seri Panglima Yahya Hussin, Datuk Azizah Mohd Dun, Datuk Ewon Ebin, Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai and Datuk Raymond Tan), so why is such a legal issue unresolved for so long?" asked Yong.

He said Masiung should not be used by Umno to cover up land grabs and forcible evictions of natives from forest reserves which Yong stressed had never happened before.

"Instead, the Kuamut YB should ask the present chief minister and cabinet to answer the hundreds of cases of land grabs and eviction of natives from forest reserves all over Sabah.

"Like the RCI on illegal and the rampant issuance of birth certiflcates and MyKads to illegals, in Semporna and elsewhere, the party with the most to lose is Upko.

"Yet the Kuamut YB has allowed himseif to be used by others to cover up for Umno by attacking others. This is so similar to the Saham Amanah Sabah fiasco," he said.

The Borneo Post

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

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