Published on: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 |
The group's spokesman, Thadeus Sibir, 56, claimed the Forestry Department would be destroying their combined farm of more than 2,000 acres.
He said they are representing more than 300 settlers in the area concerned who have been carrying out farming since early 1970s.
He said 90 per cent of the settlers are from the Kadazandusun and Murut community and that majority of them are former government employees who own between 10 and 15 acres each.
According to him, they applied for the land from the Land and Survey Department for farming and that 20 have successfully obtained their land titles while the others are still waiting for their land application (LA) to be approved.
"At that time, the department did not object to the application. So, we developed the land and planted it with oil palm and fruit trees," he said.
He said in October 2006, they received a notice from the Forestry Department which said they must vacate their land.
Three months after that, he claimed the Forestry Department personnel burnt their houses and farms.
Thadeus, who came from Tambunan and was formerly a Yayasan Sabah employee, said the settlers are really worried because the Forestry Department has started levelling their oil palm plantations since one month ago.
"After the Forestry Department burnt our houses in 2006, we wrote letters to the Prime Minister, Chief Minister and local leaders for help but until now, the problem has not been resolved," he said.
He said the Forestry Department gave the excuse that the land they were occupying is within the First Class Forest Reserve boundaries.
However, he said the department concerned should go down to the field to see the actual situation.
He said the Government should give them a period of 15 years to harvest the oil palm.
The situation is really burdening the settlers, he said, because the income generated from their oil palm plantation have all this while been used to send their children to school.
"Some of the settlers whose land have already been levelled seemed lost and unable to eat as they do not know what to do," he said.
Thadeus said the settlers moved from their original village with a hope to eke out a living from the land after their retired from government service.
Some of the settlers' children who are studying in university, he said, have to stop their studies because their parents have lost their source of income.
