Company To Face The Music For Native Land Encroachment

KOTA KINABALU, Aug 14 (Bernama) -- The Sabah Land and Survey Department has confirmed a complaint that a private oil palm plantation company has allegedly encroached on native land in three villages in Kota Marudu.

Action will be taken against the company under the Sabah Land Ordinance through the District Land Office, according to a statement from the Land and Survey Department.

It said upon inspection on July 23, it was found that the company had cultivated a tract of land sought by residents in the three villages.

Yesterday, Member of Parliament for Kota Marudu Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili urged the department to act promptly on a complaint that a company had trespassed and destroyed land owned by residents in the three villages.

Ongkili, who is also Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, said the native land, which was cultivated with rubber by 150 families for a long time, was allegedly encroached by a company claiming that it had obtained approval to do so.

According to the Land and Survey Department, the issue arose because the native land overlapped with another site that was approved for development, resulting in the company clearing the disputed land for oil palm cultivation, said Ongkili, who visited the villages.

In the statement, the Land and Survey Department said the company was involved in cultivating 704ha of land belonging to 88 land owners in Kota Marudu.

The land owners, who were awarded the land by the state government on June 2, 1978, had given the company a power of attorney to cultivate their land with oil palm.