300 natives in north Sabah stage angry protest on land-grabs

PITAS, Sabah : More than 300 angry natives in the northern parts of Sabah particularly from Pitas and Kota Marudu staged a peaceful but powerful rally protest against the prevalent land-grabs in the northern area of Sabah - Kudat, Pitas, Kota Marudu and parts of Beluran, last saturday.

They claimed the land-grabs, some were backed by politicians from the ruling party, had resulted in bitter experience for thousands of them, many are now displaced and squatting in nearby villages as well as awaiting court orders begotten by big company with links.

Hosting the rally at Torong Soko in Pitas seaside overlooking the Marudu Bay was the surging State Reform Party (Star) who successfully applied and granted a police permit under the recently passed Peaceful Rally Act.

‘MP’s development fund spent on carnival’

By Luke Rintod of FMT

TELUPID: A Sabah MP’s decision to use development funds allocated to him to finance an allegedly failed youth carnival in rural Telupid has enraged locals who are of the view that the money could have been chanelled to better use.

But the Telupid fiasco is apparently ‘just the tip of the iceberg’ with many other similar ‘fundings’ in rural Sabah where accountability is non-existent.

Said State Reform Party (STAR) Beluran divisional head, Pinus Gondili: “This Telupid case is just a tip of the iceberg … this is not the first time we heard of such a mess in spending public money on useless programmes by our government MPs.

Sabah land tussle: Villagers hear chainsaws again

By Luke Rintod of FMT

BELURAN: Villagers at a remote settlement near here are again being squeezed by Sabah Forestry Department officers who want the Dusun farmers to clear out of a ‘forest’ or risk arrest and being hauled to court for encroaching into government land.

The leader of some 150 affected families, Jaipin Mohigal, said the villagers were warned by two forestry officials who came to their settlement at Kg Koiboton Darat, Tangkarason on May 3 to leave the place as it is forest reserve land.

Victims of land-grabs pin hope in a lawyer

Sangkong (centre) flanked native vice chief Mudat Majupi (left)
and Ketua Kampung, Mogak Majupi explaining their predicament.

KOTA KINABALU : Families who were served with court notice late last year to move out in one month of "their" lands in Kampung Tangkarason, Beluran now pin their hope that the plantation company involved and the court would "grant" some mercy on them, knowing there is no where to go after this.

Leader of the group, Nulius Sangkong, 34, who managed to get court order for a stay said they never dreamed that this could happen to them as natives of Sabah after toiling the lands and living there since 1980s.