KUCHING: A dialogue with the Kedayan-Malay villagers who claimed that they were made to evict their lands in Bekenu will be held in Miri tomorrow.
Assistant Minister of Land Development Mohd Naroden Majais, in revealing this, said that Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud would also be involved in the dialogue to clear the air surrounding the eviction of some 10,000 people from 13 villages in the area.
“At this point we are not sure of the status of the land in question - whether it is Native Customary Right (NCR) land or state land,” he told reporters at his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house here last Saturday night.
He said that the Land and Survey Department was currently doing a thorough investigation on the affected area and to find out the real status of the land.
“The department needs to find out the status of the land first before further discussion can be held and for the villagers to apply for the land,” he said, adding that the government had no intention of taking away NCR land without proper discussion with the people.
“Like what the Chief Minister said, if the villagers feel that they have the rights on the land then they can appeal through the proper channel and everything can be resolved amicably,” he said.
Meanwhile, the director of Land and Survey Department, Sudarsono Osman, had clarified through a faxed statement last Saturday that the department had never issued any eviction order to the Kedayan-Malay villagers in Bekenu, refuting a recent report in a national daily.
He said the department had received copies of the eviction letter issued by advocates of a company to eight individuals warning them not to trespass on its land.
“They are not eviction letters from us as alleged,” he said when referring to Lot 3935 Lambir Land District and Lot 4448 Sibuti Land District.
He explained that the lots had been alienated and issued a provisional lease to a company on Feb 6, 2001 for the development of an oil palm plantation.
From The Borneo Post Online
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