A well-connected company has destroyed their crops and forced villagers from their ancestral land.
KOTA MARUDU: The villagers have been tilling their land since colonial times but now they have to hang up their hoe and sickle because of corporate greed.
A company has moved into their ancestral land, bulldozed their fruit trees and crops and, to add insult to injury, tore down their houses.
The homeless villagers say the state government is working in cahoots with the company as all their pleas fell on deaf ears. Instead, the government wants to evict therm from their ancestral land.
The villagers of Kampung Tambisan complained that the state government had failed to help them and had allowed the company to demolish their houses and crops and forced them to leave the area.
They claim they have had the “native customary land title “ since British colonial times.
Ten native families brought their plight to the attention of PKR Kota Marudu chief Anthony Mandiu who said the families were unhappy with the company for pulling down their houses.
Mandiu said the villagers are now homeless and he also verified that the land occupied by the villagers is classified as NCR (native customary right) land.
He urged the authorities to investigate the land grab and to find out why such a small piece of land was forcibly taken away from the poor families.
He wants the government to explain why it had granted the company the right to evict poor native villagers who are already struggling to make a living.
According to business circles here , cases of land grab by powerful companies are rampant in the state.
They say large areas of land in Kota Marudu district in the north of the state have been taken over by companies, forcing villagers out of their NCR land.
Land grabs in Sabah are not just happening in Kota Marudu district but also in almost all other districts,” Mandiu said.
He said the BN-led state government must be taken to task for failing to take act against companies involved in grabbing ancestral land from locals.
By Michael Kaung from FMT
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