Some depts still chasing natives out of their homes, NCR land Read more: http://www.theborneopost.com/2012/06/06/some-depts-still-chasing-natives-out-of-their-homes-ncr-land/#ixzz1wzX7Gy1E

KOTA KINABALU: Some government departments are still chasing the native rural folks in Sabah out of their homes and their native customary land.
The claim was made by PACOS Trust representative Galus Ahtoi at the Suhakam public inquiry held at Sedcovest yesterday.
According to him, some villagers were troubled because they alleged that government officials had gone to their native customary land and marked their houses with an ‘x’.
He said that PACOS Trust is presently handling a case whereby a community was chased out of their native customary land.
As proof that the community has resided there for several years, Galus told Suhakam that the affected community had planted rubber trees in the area concerned.
He, however, did not mention where the community resided.
Citing a similar issue, former Suhama vice chairman Tan Sri Simon Sipaun said he had a chance to meet a person who claimed that his house had been burned down to the ground by government enforcement officers.
“I was told that the enforcement came to their village and asked everyone to leave for one day because they needed to do a census. On their return the next day, they found their houses burnt to the ground. The man had told me that if only the enforcement officers had told the villagers of their intention, the villagers would have taken their gongs, their documents and rice. But alas, they did not,” he elaborated.
Simon said it saddened him to hear of village folks being treated cruelly for being in the forests while the illegal immigrants who are in their thousands in Sabah, are left to roam freely.
He added that such testaments were testimony to the failure of the State Government to respect the laws of the State.
“If it is respected, we don’t have to sit here. If the kampung people sit on government land for more than three years, and no one tells them to leave, they have every right to apply for the land and yet, their application is rejected,” he said.
He also cited the Desa Montoki case in Kundasang whereby the local folks who have resided within the area were denied rights to the land.
“The folks have conducted their planting activities for years, and after three years, decided to apply for the land based on the Native Customary Rights (NCR). However, their application was rejected and a commercial company was given the land title deed,” he said.
“This is a violation of human rights. Our own state government is doing it. We need to impress on the government that this is not right,” he said.