WHAT HAPPEN TO 1MILLION ACRES FOR NATIVES?

Dear Editor,

I REFER to the statement issued on front page of a local paper with regards to Natives losing their land rights, 31 January, 2012.

Natives of Sabah lost vast areas of their ancestral lands due to the act of dishonesty and betrayal of those natives with political powers in the government and nothing else.

I cite a classic example of Kampung Karamunting in Sandakan whose existence right from the pre-merdeka days but had been wiped out from the map and replaced by the expansion of Sandakan port, where, promises to relocate the kampung inhabited by the natives, to Mile 4, along the Sibuga Road were never honoured by the native leaders in the present government.

18 years on since the promised made in 1992, the natives in Karamunting will witness not just Kg. Karamunting will vanish, but the whole area consisting of Karamunting Lama, Kg. Lupak Meluas and nearby kampungs will be gone for good. Who is to blame for this catastrophy? Aren't those in powers are natives themselves?

The emergence of fake Anak Negeris are a threat to the declining in the land areas owned by genuine natives. Again, the native leaders are the real traitors by simply endorsing and issuing letters certifying their dubious status in return for monetary gains.

The Majlis Hal Ehwal Anak Negeri which was presided by UMNO/BN leader easily issued letter recommending these fake Anak Negeris as genuine Anak Negeri hence having the eligibility to buy and own NT lands.

Datuk Harris Salleh's disclosure of the close to 1 million acres of lands alienated to landless smallholders during the Berjaya era, most of whom are natives, but were later revoked and given to big companies during the PBS era under the Chief Ministership of Datuk Pairin Kitingan, spoke for itself the act of betrayal and dishonesty of the native leaders.

HAMZAH ABDULLAH,

PAS DEPUTY COMMISSIONER.