KOTA KINABALU: Leading land rights lawyer Kong Hong Ming has obtained an ex-parte interlocutory injunction in a bid to restrain the Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) on a matter involving 210.2 acres designated as Native Residential Reserve in 1988. He was acting on behalf of five villagers representing 19 residents of Kampung Sinar Baru in Gum Gum, Sandakan.

The SMC, the litigants alleged, entered their land and carried out demolition works and evicted many of the Orang Asal inhabitants. The inter-parte hearing of the villager’s application will come up at the High Court on May 11. The villagers are alleging abuse of power by the Sandakan District Chief and village headman as trustees appointed under Gazette. They intend to seek compensation from those involved in the eviction process on the said land.

Kota Kinabalu High Court Judge Douglas Primus granted the order to plaintiffs Augustine Aling, Juhar Ahmad, Laidin Lambin, Amsarudin @ Sampirit Nurdin and Oyok Philip Monsinoh who named the SMC President, Deputy President, Secretary of Natural Resources Sabah, Sandakan Assistant Collector of Land Revenues, Sabah Government, Native Chief Awang Damit Abdul Rahim, and 20 people who had encroached into the land, as Defendants. The Secretary of Natural Resources, the court documents show, ignored the villagers plea for help since 2006.

The eviction and demolition underway at Kampung Sinar Baru has been put on hold following Kong serving SMC President Mohd Amsan Awang Supain with the court order.

Augustine, 73, acting on behalf of the rest of the villagers, has also lodged a police report on the matter. This is not the first report. Since 2005, the villagers have lodged more than 20 police reports but all to no avail.

Briefly, he requested in the latest report that police investigate the site clearing works on the said land, allegedly under the instruction of the SMC Deputy President. He added in his report that 155 of his trees were moved down without advance notice. “A total of 40 per cent of the land or approximately 80 acres were cleared by the SMC over the weekend.”

The figures gathered by Augustine show that 4,400 trees including oil palm, coconut and other trees had been destroyed during the demolition, site clearing and eviction works during the past few days by the SMC working together with the village headman who was appointed to his position by the government despite being allegedly an immigrant.

Read further here:  Orang Asal move against Council on NCR land