Villager complains of harassment by govt officers

Luke Rintod

State officials don't want the people to express dissenting views in relation to a proposed billion-ringgit agropolitant project in Kota Belud.

KOTA BELUD: A local Dusun community leader from Pandasan in Kota Belud has alleged that he was harrassment by government officials for objecting to the proposed federal-funded agropolitan project earmarked to make Kota Belud a main food producer.

Antonis Angkup, 35, from Kampung Bubuk Bungaliu near here, claimed he was summoned by the district office last month when he and others from Pandasan objected to the proposed project which “encroached” into their kampung reserve as well as some other areas which they had applied for under NCR (native customary rights).

“I was called and they pressured me with a lot of strong words.

“They warned me that I must not object to the agropolitan project because it is a huge project by the government,” he told a local lawyer Peter Marajin who was in Pandasan on the weekend for a Sabah Progressive Party ceramah.

Angkup, who is a JKKK deputy chairman, said he was not afraid to stand for his and the people’s rights but was uncomfortable as the five government officers were bent on pressuring him not to speak his mind or to convey (to the government) the kampung people’s view.

Marajin meanwhile said he would look into the case.

He said it was wrong for the government to force its will on its own people who were only seeking more information and participation in decision-making in the billion dollar project.

“Participation by the rakyat is a tenet in democracy. It is amusing why these civil servants are going overboard to convince the simple-minded kampung folks to support the proposal.

“Are they all suddenly experts on agropolitan proposal that they must not listen to the people?

“Or are they under strict orders from politicians that no dissenting voice on the proposed agropolitan project is acceptable to them?

“In our eagerness to bring development to the rural areas, we must also take into consideration the natives, the peoples’ view in the areas affected.

“It is not just developing the land, it is about human development,” said the Marajin.

Yet another controversy

The agropolitan project for Kota Belud involved opening of lands and re-planning thousands of hectares of state lands for agriculture, especially rice.

Word is that companies with close links to certain government leaders are slowly being brought into the picture.

This new issue would definitely bring to light more details of the secrective billion dollar agropolitan project.

The government is already facing the heat over another project in Kota Belud – the Tambatuon Dam which ironically will be sited at one of the most beautiful and highly populated kampungs in Kota Belud.

The contentious project has drawn the attention of both state and national political leaders.

Rumours have it that neither the federal nor state governments are likely to relent especially since they had to eat humble pie in the cancelled coal-powered electricity plant project in Sinakut, Lahad Datu.