Officers at Land & Survey Department needs new culture

Approval or rejection of land applications depend on how connected is one with the officers in charge

Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president Haji Amde Sidik feels that a new approach and new culture must be instilled to administrators and managers of all State Government Departments of Sabah.

One such department is the Land and Survey Department which Amde said approval or rejection of land applications depend on how well connected one is with the officers in charge.

“I think if the procedures are adhered to strictly would surely lessen complaints and suspicions from public," he said while at Kg Banting meeting the people about 13 KM from Sipitang town.

"We can see a few individuals get too much land while a great many do not even own an inch,” he said.

"One very common standard answer that land applicants often receive is their land they applied for has overlapped with another land application. Cases like these could be problematic if genuine, sometimes bribery will happen.

"Even at the district level little napoleons behave worse than their bosses at the headquarters," Hj Amdee Sidik said, who is also Chairman for SAPP Constituency Liaison Committee for N28 Sindumin.

"In Sipitang District alone we already experienced land scandal, for example, via forgeries of signatures, land were sold via dubious power of attorneys, native lands were sold to non-natives, and not forgetting there are people ever ready to exploit the situation," he said.

"A few years ago the building of Sipitang District Office was burnt down mysteriously, this was still a highly suspected incident, some say burning down the building was a way of destroying the existing records.

Present at the gathering were Sarudin Maidin SAPP CLC Sindumin Treasurer, and some CLC committee members

SAPP Media