Lack of political will to resolve land issues
KOTA KINABALU Jan 31, 2012: When it comes to land issues, the weak, voiceless, poor and marginalized were punished and victimized in Sabah, while the strong and well-connected were being assisted.
There is lack of political will and usually personal and versed interests prevail over general and public interests generally.
This was the opinion of Tan Sri Simon Sipaun, former vice chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) when presenting his views at the symposium on ‘Sabah Native Land Rights: Issues, Challenges and Future Prospects’ held at the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) yesterday.
He added that the people, especially in the rural areas, are very much dependent on land for their livelihood.
“The relationship between people and land is very close, almost sacred. If the relationship is disturbed, a very emotional response is triggered.”
He explained that the literacy standard of the rural people also tends to be generally low and that this being the case, their understanding of government legislations, rules, regulations, procedures, policies and so on, is very limited at best.
“Poverty is also common and the standard of living is low. Their access to health and educational facilities, if any, is very limited. And so is their access to legal remedy,” he said.
“They cannot afford lawyers when they are left with no other option. When we hear of them winning cases in court, more often than not, they would be defended by lawyers who offer their services on a ‘pro bono’ basis.”
He stated that under Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it has provided that everyone has the right to ‘life, liberty and security of person.’
“Without life there will be no one to enjoy any right. The life of the people who depend on land for survival is threatened when his right to land is violated. Right to life is the mother of all rights,” Sipaun said and added that land-related complaints were common while he was still the vice chairman of SUHAKAM between October 13, 2003 and April 25, 2010.
“During the period, Suhakam Sabah organized a programme called ‘Suhakam Bersama Rakyat’ in 29 different districts throughout Sabah. It was essentially a roadshow to create awareness of human rights and to hear and we receive complaints from the general public,” he said.
He stressed that he could not remember visiting any district in which land related problems were not raised.
“For 10 years Suhakam had been listening and receiving a litany of grouses and complaints. During the same period Suhakam had been referring the complaints together with its recommendations to the relevant state government departments and agencies.”
He said that while some of the problems were attended to and resolved, a large majority remained unresolved until today.
To reflect on the gravity and seriousness of land-related problems in Sabah, Sipaun added that in other instances, Suhakam Sabah had organized several forums, round-table discussions, dialogues, meetings as well as others on land matters.
“I remember a forum held in KK (Kota Kinabalu) on August 16, 2004 on Native Customary Land Rights. Suhakam expected between 40 and 60 participants. As it turned out, the forum attracted more than 500 very enthusiastic participants.”
He divided land issues in Sabah into three broad categories. The first category, Sipaun said, is bureaucracy.
“This includes lack of response or delay in responding to land applications, late applications being entertained or approved at the expense of earlier ones, delay in surveying etc.”
“One of the main causes of this problem is related to the work culture and attitude of civil servants.”
He cited a case in Suhakam in 2004 whereby one, Haji Rashid Burut, 69, from Sepanggar, came to the Suhakam office for assistance.
“His 6.68 acres were acquired compulsorily by the State Government for a low-cost housing project on September 15, 1973 to be implemented by the Lembaga Pembangunan Perumahan dan Bandar b(LPPB).
He was compensated for it with another piece of land of equivalent size.
His complaint was that every time he went to the LPPB, he was advised to go to the Land and Survey Department and vice versa.”
Sipaun said that both agencies told him that the title of the land as his compensation was not ready and that this went on for 31 years!
“This is hard to believe but true.”
When Suhakam took up his case, it is common for government departments and agencies to be responsive to Suhakam because they are afraid that cases affecting their organizations may end up in the newspapers.
“Within two days Suhakam was informed that the man’s land title had been waiting for collection for a long time. The only problem was the officers who met with Haji Rashid never bothered to check the actual position. I suspect the easiest way to get rid of him every time he appeared was to give him the standard reply ‘geran belum ada lagi.”
The second category he cited is related to forest reserves, Sabah Parks, water conservation areas, settlement schemes and large scale commercial developments.
“The main complaints are that people have settled in the respective areas long before they were gazetted for their respective use.”
And the third category is a combination of the first and second categories.
“These are mostly a combination between bureaucracy and settlements scheme, commercial project, commercial intrusions, forest reserves, Sabah Parks and dam constructions.”
Sipaun questioned as to why land-related problem has continued to persist.
“It is not as if no one has ever suggested how the problem could be minimized or even eliminated. In fact recommendations after recommendations have been submitted to the state relevant authorities. Unfortunately, at the same time the problems continue to subsist and more often than not get more complicated in nature judging from the complaints received by Suhakam alone.
“Other agencies also receive complaints on land related issues. These include the federal complaints bureau, state complaints bureau, Land and Survey Department, forest department, ministers, political and community leaders and so on.
“I believe the answer is that there is lack of political will and usually personal and versed interests prevailing over general and public interests,” he said.
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Land and forest administrators urged to be human rights-compliant
“A workshop could be organised to bring together experts, complainants’ representatives and other interested parties to identify the amendments required,”
Hope that the landowners rights will be protected by the government, to some of the people, their land is their main source of income, without it they will have a difficult time to survive.
BalasPadamA workshop to bring together various parties to look into the amendments for the land and forest administration sounds like a good suggestion to me.
BalasPadamIf it is for a good cause, they shouldn't be hesitant to join it.
Padamisu tanah ini kena diselesaikan dgn baik, pasti kepentingan penduduk tidak terjejas.
BalasPadampenduduk dan tanah tidak dpt dipisahkan, sejak turun temurun mereka menduduki tanah yang menjadi warisan mereka. tanah2 tersebut harus dipertahankan.
BalasPadamnamun hairan juga kadang2 bagaimana tanah yang mereka duduki turun temurun tiba2 menjadi hak milik orang lain. malah ada yang bertindih dengan tanah rizab kerajaan.
Padamhopefully this matter will be look into by the relevant authority and find the root of this matter.
BalasPadamThe matters that has being highlighted within this article is like a 'slap' to all genuine Sabahan.
BalasPadamA new electronic land registry system will cut short the issuance of land titles from two years to three months this year. Processing of temporary land lease applications for sand and stone mining will also be cut to six months from two years. Registering land transactions will now take only two weeks instead of three months using the Land Dealing Electronic Submission System (LADDESS). The system handled 38,980 transactions valued at 2.5 billion ringgit last year.
BalasPadamChief minister Musa Aman is happy; particularly when the department is setting up a native land bank of 140,000 hectares of idle land to be developed with cash crops such as oil palms and rubber that will make poor villagers rich. There will also be a native reserve land bank of 80,000 hectares.
Some 90,000 hectares of land in nine districts where poor natives live will be given to them under communal titles. Two of these were given to more than 5,000 villagers in Nabawan and another in Lalampas of the Tongod district.
The delay in processing land applications continues to be among the main grouses raised at the Sabah leg of preliminary inquiries by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam).
BalasPadam"I believe the answer is that there is lack of political will and usually personal and versed interests prevailing over general and public interests"
BalasPadamActions had been taken were not that effective hence the impacting the results.
So both of party need to make discussion to find the best solution agreement.
BalasPadammemang tipu la NGO seperti suhakam dan parti2 politik yang lain jika mereka menafikan bahawa kerajaan tidak langsung mengambil berat dengan masalah tanah adat di negeri ini..
BalasPadambagaimana pula peranan NGO dan parti2 politik di negeri ini? adakah mereka berjaya memainkan peranan sesuai dengan objektif mereka? atau sekadar mencari kesempatan disebalik kesempitan yang dihadapi oleh rakyat??
BalasPadam