Why did you burn native homes, Musa?

Michael Kaung

It has taken a determined group of natives from Kampung Imahit, some 450km from Kota Kinabalu, to stir slumbering KadazanDusun Murut leaders in the Sabah BN to speak up.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman’s government must explain the “inhumane torching” of natives’ homes and the destruction of their crops cultivated on “forest reserves” by officials of the State Forestry Department.

Appalled at the gangster-style behaviour, United Borneo Front chief Jeffey Kitingan said: “What kind of human beings behaves like this? In Kadazandusun customary law, setting fire to houses and destroying crops are very serious offences.

“The affected natives should have brought those responsible to the Native Court for trial.”

Jeffrey was responding to Upko vice-president Senator Maijol Mahap’s statement that Forestry Department officers had in the past torched homes of natives and poisoned their crops. Maijol had called for these officers to quit their posts.

Maijol was in turn reacting to last week’s decision by the Kota Kinabalu High Court to quash the conviction of six Tenom native farmers for entering and cultivating crop in the Kuala Tomani Forest Reserve, which they claimed was native customary rights (NCR) land.

Jeffrey said it was ironical that only now native-based Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties such as Upko were defending native rights.

“It is ironical that only now, after a determined group of villagers from Kampung Imahit, Tenom, had won a case to preserve their land rights, Upko seemed to be alert to their plight.

“All these years it was the opposition parties and the NGOs which have been making lots of noises for the natives over land disputes against the Forestry Department.

“The BN partners in Sabah have often been very quiet and shy of defending their own people for fear of being branded as anti-government,” Jeffrey said.

Nothing done

Jeffrey, however, contended that if the BN-led state government had done all the right things in defending the people, all these land disputes would not have happened.

“The BN government had failed to defend its own people and has instead turned them into criminals and its enemies,” he said.

He said UBF as an NGO whose objective is to fight for the rights of the natives was looking at other areas where native rights have been violated by the government.

He assured that UBF would make sure that the natives are no longer victimised again by the government.

“When is the state government going to look into reviewing the Land Ordinance to update it in accordance with today’s needs?

“This has been talked about a long time but until today nothing is done.

“Instead the government has been spending a lot of the time fighting with the people over land rights, but at the same time spending millions building houses for the immigrants.

“The fact that the Forestry Department is determined to appeal the Imahit case means the government itself wants to chase out this people from their land at whatever cost.

“To me it is no longer a case of legality but a case of inhumanity and cruelty,” he added.

A-G yet to decide

Meanwhile, state forestry director Sam Mannan said the department would be contesting the High Court’s March 4 verdict.
But state Attorney-General Roderic Fernandez said his office would study the High Court’s decision before deciding on the next course of action.

In handing down a landmark decision last Friday, Justice David Wong held that the magistrate’s court in Tenom was wrong in concluding that customary rights cannot be established in a forest reserve.

The magistrate had on Nov 12, last year fined Andawan Ansapi, 47, Barani Ambisi, 41, Ansanam @ Azman Yapau, 52, Johndy Kawar, 35, Stanley Boyor, 35, and Sarim Arus, 53, RM1000 each after finding them guilty of two charges of trespassing and cultivating without permission from state authority in the Kuala Tomani Forest Reserve.

Wong allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction of the six natives, saying that the magistrate should have acquitted and discharged them.