SABAH NATIVES ARE ANGRY AND FRUSTRATED AT RELEVANT PARTIES WHO CANNOT PROTECT THEIR INTEREST

USDA wants Govt to lay off native customary land rights

KOTA KINABALU 27th Oct, 2011: United Sabah Dusun Association (USDA) has called on village residents in the state, especially in the rural areas, to vigorously defend their rights to their ancestral land.

Its president, Datuk Kalakau Untol, said, this is important to ensure that their customary rights on ancestral land will be passed on to their future generations.

He said their customary land rights is being increasingly stripped off and taken over by big corporations on a large scale, which would bring serious repercussion to the natives who depend very much on land for survival.

However, he said, the problem will not occur if the relevant parties conduct the process in a fair manner as what the natives do in defending their rights to their native land.

“Natives who work on their land based on hereditary customary rights now seem to be denied their rights to continue with their traditions resulting, in what we see now, in anger and frustration at the relevant parties who cannot protect their interests,” he said.

He was speaking during a meeting with villagers in Kampung Toburon, Kota Belud, recently to hear the problems of the people in the village.

Kalakau said 512 villagers in Kampung Toburan lost their customary rights land of 809.1 hectares to a company that has now started developing the area with the cultivation of rubber.

“The affected land includes the homes, village and farm crops cultivated by the natives,” he said.

He said such situation would not have arisen if the villagers were informed of the company’s application for the land or if early notice had been served on them.

“The villagers were shocked by the news that the land is now owned by the company, without them being able to defend their rights to it,” he said.

In this regard, USDA is appealing to the government to look seriously into these problems faced by the local people in this state, the majority of them having lost their customary rights on ancestral land unfairly.

“We ask that customary land rights in the state should not be disturbed. USDA will continue to fight for the land and rights of the people,” he said.

Following the meeting, a group of the village residents made a peaceful demonstration to protest against the incursion of a company into the customary land rights land of Kampung Toburon villagers.

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Usda saran penduduk kampung luar bandar pertahan tanah adat

“Anak Negeri yang mengusahakan tanah adat secara turun temurun seakan-akan dinafikan hak untuk meneruskan tradisi mereka, dan kini apa yang kita lihat adalah kemarahan dan kekecewaan kepada pihak berkaitan yang tidak dapat melindungi kepentingan mereka,”

“Penduduk kampung dikejutkan dengan berita bahawa tanah-tanah tersebut telah pun dimiliki oleh syarikat itu, tanpa dapat mempertahankan hak mereka,”

Presiden Persatuan Dusun Sabah Bersatu (Usda) Datuk Kalakau Untol

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'Stop destroying crops of villagers'

"It must be reminded that the villagers have applied for the land for quite some time even when Tun Sakaran Dandai was the District Officer in Semporna ... just imagine how long they have been applying for the land?

"Until now there has been no response,"

Umno Semporna Youth Chief, Mohd Azis Jamman