Yong scolds BN man for ignoring facts

Ex-CM Yong Teck Lee said that there was no problem with native customary rights over lands settled by natives until recently.

KOTA KINABALU: Former Sabah chief minister Yong Teck Lee has slammed local Barisan Nasional component party members of being too willing to betray their constituents in order to score points with Umno.

Yong was particularly upset that United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation’s (Upko) Kuamut assemblyman Mansiung Bannah allowed himself to be used by Umno to cover up land grabs and forced evictions of natives from forest reserves which never happened before.

He was responding to Bannah attacking him in the State Legislative Assembly on Monday for approving 55,000ha of land to two companies but not one land application to those residing in his constituency when he was chief minister.

Yong, who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, described the criticism as unwarranted and said Bannah had lost focus.

“He should ask the present CM and state cabinet to answer for the hundreds of cases of land grabs and eviction of natives from forest reserves all over Sabah,” the former chief minister said.

Yong advised Bannah to understand that the party with most to lose is Upko as could be seen by Umno’s failure to unreservedly support a royal inquiry on illegals in the state and the alleged rampant issuance of birth certificates and MyKads to illegals, in Semporna and elsewhere.

“The Kuamut YB has allowed himself to be used by others to cover up for Umno by attacking others.

“This is so similar to the Saham Amanah Sabah fiasco performed by PBS’s Yee Moh Chai. Such puppetry by Upko and PBS only serves to embolden the real culprits,” he said.

‘No issues with NCR until recently’

Yong said that by doing so Bannah would be in danger of belittling his party leaders such as Bernard Dompok and Wilfred Bumburing, because Upko had recently raised its profile in campaigning for a Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants.

He also reminded Bannah that the Kadazandusun Chambers of Commerce and lndustry which is led by Upko leaders is “a major shareholder of the companies allocated the land in Kuamut and one or more of whom are directors of the company”.

“These are the leaders who should speak up, not the current Kuamut new YB,” said Yong, maintaining that during his brief term as chief minister of Sabah (1996 – 1998), thousands of Native Titles (NTs) were issued to natives in Kinabatangan (which include Kuamut) and elsewhere, adding that some of them were personally handed over by him to the natives in the presence of local YBs.

He also disclosed that that incoming chief minister Dompok, during his nine months as CM after he (Yong) stepped down when the post was rotated among the various communities, continued to hand over some NTs issued by the Land Department special task force.

Yong also reminded Bannah that the powers to approve land and forests were transferred from the chief minister to the state cabinet on June 17, 1996, three weeks after he was appointed chief minister.

Yong also pointed out that there was no problem with NCRs (Native Customary Rights) over lands settled by natives until recently.