Culprits to face music: CM

Daily Express
Friday, 6 July 2007
Barnard Yaang

PUTATAN: The State Government wants police to get to the bottom of allegations that unscrupulous plantation companies allegedly use strong-arm tactics to seize thou­sands of hectares belonging to locals.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman said the Government would not protect anyone, particularly in this matter, if they had broken the law.
He was asked to comment on a report that some companies engaged Indonesian illegal immigrants as gangsters to instil fear among the landowners if they resisted their demand for land.
"Let the police investigate... if anyone had broken the law, let them face action. The Government will not protect anyone," he said after launching of Mangrove Tree Planting and other Suitable Species at Meruntum Rest Area, Lok Kawi, Thursday.
On the State Government's part, he said he would instruct the various related departments to look into the matter.
At the same time, he also told newly-appointed State Secretary Datuk Sukarti Wakiman to take note of the issue.
According to a national news agency report, such malpractices have been ongoing in Sabah for the past 15 years, especially in Lahad Datu, Sandakan and Kinabatangan.
Force is usually employed to seize plots from the rightful own­ers while in other cases, forged documents are used to transfer own­ership. The victims claim that it still happening despite hundreds of police reports lodged against the perpetrators, some of who are believed to own public-listed companies.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Musa Hassan, assured he would personally investigate the matter.
A victim, known as HKF, owner of a 250-hectare (617-acre) oil palm plantation in Sandakan, said since 2005, he had been reeling under pressure of an unscrupulous company said to have seized his plantation.
Despite servicing a monthly instalments of RM48,000 for the plantation over the past two years, he claimed that about 500 illegal Indonesian immigrants employed by a powerful businessman had prevented him from entering his own land.
He claimed the thugs had warned him that if he attempted to enter his plantation again, they would bury him alive.
He also claimed that after making several police reports over the last two years, he had been advised not to mess with the thugs as they had been employed by a "powerful company".
During a meeting with the IGP, he was advised to make a formal complaint with the Federal Disciplinary Board for the alleged police inaction in Sandakan.