Help native Sabahans too, activist tells Warisan government

Arthur Sen wants the government to give the same treatment it is giving squatters whose houses were burnt down last week to villagers whose homes were demolished by the Forestry Department last year.

Activist Arthur Sen says the villagers in Kg Bobotong should be given land as they are natives who had lived there for decades. (Facebook pic)

KOTA KINABALU: A political activist has questioned the state government’s apparent eagerness to help squatters whose homes were razed in a fire last week, saying it has forgotten another group of Sabahans whose houses were demolished last year.

Speaking to FMT, Arthur Sen said the state government should not only consider the plight of those in the public eye, but also those in rural areas.

He added that the identities of some of the squatters were suspect but that those whose homes were demolished were all Sabahans.

He told FMT that the state government had “leapt” to help some 500 squatters in Kg Likas near here after a fire left them homeless. He said it had promised them land lots, new houses and even a school bus service for the children.

Deputy Home Minister Azis Jamman, who is also Sepanggar MP, had also said he would help to temporarily relocate the fire victims to a piece of land in Kg Darau, Tuaran. However, the proposal was met with protests from locals.

“If the state government is ready to assist squatters in Likas – who include people whom we can’t ascertain are truly locals or not – then why not extend the same courtesy to people who are really natives of this land?

“I am talking about Sabahans who have been living in Kg Bobotong, Tongod, since 1978 on a piece of land which was later gazetted as forest reserve,” the former Upko Youth chief said.

Sen said he had been contacted by the Tongod villagers this week to convey the message that they wanted the government to give them the same treatment, including a new settlement area.

He said the case was hotly debated last year when the Forestry Department demolished their homes after accusing them of encroaching on state land.

He added that the issue was heavily politicised and they were quietly given the assurance of getting land for a new settlement on condition that they drop their suit against the state government.

“Their dilemma now is whether this government will give them other land if the case is dropped in court.”

He said the villagers should have been given land as they were natives who had lived there for decades.

Since the state government now had a law and native affairs ministry, he said, it was “high time” it corrected any discrepancy between the state forestry laws and native customary rights land.

“But just on the humanitarian level, I hope the state government will take pity on them. Where can they go and what about their children and their crops?” he asked. -FMT