Let’s talk, but don’t try any rough stuff with me: CM
By Puvaneswary Devindran, The Borneo Post Online
RIDING ROUGHSHOD OVER THE RAKYAT
KUCHING: Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said he is open to discussion on a supposed eviction of some 10,000 villagers from 13 Kedayan-Malay villages in Bekenu.
What discussion? Why only now? Does anyone think that this man is really open to discussion? Or he wants the people to come begging to him so that he can placate them with some devious promises not meant to be fulfilled?
He said although he had yet to hear from the affected villagers, he felt that the best way to resolve the matter was to come and see him and not try any rough stuff with him.
Why shouldn't the people play rough when this is the way they are treated, like illegal squatters and asked to get off their land and leave their houses just before Hari Raya? He has yet to hear? What rubbish! In the first place doesn't he know or are we to believe that he doesn't know?
“Because once you start playing rough, you cut all communication with me. In the end, you still have to communicate with me because I’m the government … whether or not the claim is good (only) then I can consider,” he told reporters at the second day of his Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house at Stadium Perpaduan here yesterday.
Why was there no communication with the affected villagers except for the notice of eviction? So the villagers who have been leaving there for the last 100 years now have to prove their claim? Surely they should have been considered even before any such decision was made? The arrogance of this man seems to know no bounds. Just because he "is the government" does that mean he can do what he likes and treat the people as he likes?
He stressed that there was no way of talking things through if one were to go about the situation in a rough manner.
This doesn't apply to him of course as he can be as rough as he wants to with the people. Try talking to him and see what happens - he will just talk them down roughly. We have seen this many times, and which is why even his ministers and the so-called peoples' representatives are scared shitless of him. What kind of leader is this?
“The government can work out something. If you want to make an appeal, make an appeal. That’s the best way. Tell the story properly,” he added.
Of course the government can work out something, but that is after the fact. Why should it be that the people have to appeal? Why were the interests of the affected villagers not even taken into consideration prior to their land being given to a private developer? WHO IS THIS PRIVATE DEVELOPER ANY WAY?
On Saturday, a group of people from the 13 villages protested a move to evict them from their century-old settlement by a private developer.
They allegedly received a notice on Sept 15 from the company’s lawyers to leave within 14 days.
For them to be so arrogant they must have someone powerful and even more arrogant, like Taib, behind them. Not even their elected representatives nor the idiot 2nd Minister of Resource Planning and Mismanagement knew what what was going on, if they are to be believed.
The affected villagers, as claimed by a group that protested peacefully at Kampung Beraya junction yesterday, are from the villages of Batu Satu, Butir, Kejapil, Keluru Tengah, Keluru Jaya, Subak, Sepurau, Selanyau, Opak, Tusan, Uban, Terahad and Beraya.
The villagers claimed that the area concerned was an old burial ground of their Kedayan Muslim ancestors and that the affected cemeteries are Kubur Islam Kejapil, Kubur Butir, Kubur Sungai Jalil, Uban and Kubur Sungai Payau.
The Kedayans settled in the area sometime in 1910.
9 comments:
So fed up of this Taib already!
How can you discuss matters sensibly with a man filled with such arrogance? Get rid of him.
Commnets by Jetty
“Don’t play rough with me….because I am the government,” said Abdul Taib Mahmud, chief minister of Sarawak. He was commenting on protests by 10,000 Kedayan Muslims whose ancestral land was being taken away by a company for the planting of oil palm. Some 5,500 hectares of their land in Sibuti were involved.
“Because once you start playing rough, you cut all communications with me. In the end you still have to communicate with me, because I am the government,” he said. His remarks were published in The Borneo Post today.
Taib’s strong statement reminded me of our history during the days of the barbarians when kings in those days declared; “I am the king and I am the law”.
Anyone who dared to oppose the kings would have his head beheaded or his property including land seized.
Like the Kedayans, other Natives have also their ancestral lands, declared as State land, had been taken away and sold to big companies for the planting of oil palm. The natives had many times appealed to the government for discussions, but the government had turned deaf ears to their requests.
If they reported to the Police regarding the encroachment to their land, the Police would not take action. Fed up, they took the law into their hands and were prepared to be detained so that they could take legal action.
Therefore, it is nice to hear that Taib is prepared to meet the Kedayans to resolve the matter. Likewise, and hopefully, Taib should also be prepared to meet other natives on similar issues as there are hundreds of thousands of NCR land owned by the Ibans, Penans, Kayans, Kenyahs and Bidayuhs have been given to big companies without compensations. Open discussions with the people will not only bring benefits to the land owners, the companies and the government, but also peace, harmony and prosperity.
Source: http://thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/2008/10/quote-of-day.html
"Don’t play rough with me….because I am the government" said Taib. Then we don't need other ministers.
Samarahan, Mukah and Balinging have no more land. Now someone is eying Bekenu.
No eviction order to villagers in Bekenu
By Puvaneswary Devindran
Land and Survey Department never issued any eviction order
KUCHING: The Land and Survey Department has never issued any eviction order to 10,000 or so Kedayan-Malay villagers in Bekenu, Miri Division, refuting a recent report in a national daily.
In a faxed press statement yesterday, Land and Survey director Sudarsono Osman said copies of eviction letters sent to the department were issued by advocates of a company to eight individuals, warning them not to trespass on its land.
“They are not eviction orders from us as alleged,” he said, referring to Lot 3935 Lambir Land District and Lot 4448 Sibuti Land District.
He said seven of the letters were dated Sept 9, 2008 and one was dated Sept 15, 2008.
Judging by the names, three of the recipients are Chinese and four seem to be individuals from outside the Kedayan community.
He explained that lots 3935 and 4448 had been alienated and issued a provisional lease to a company on Feb 6, 2001 for the development of an oil palm plantation.
The total area is 1180 hectares and 550 hectares respectively.
Sudarsono pointed out that the land is at least two kilometres from the nearest village. In other words, there is no village within the provisional lease area.
The department’s records show that all land that might be subject to native customary rights (NCR) had been excluded from the provisional lease area.
Sudarsono recalled that on June 21, 2002 the Miri Division Superintendent of Land and Survey had a dialogue with several community leaders who represented the Kedayan-Malay villages.
“The outcome was that surveyors appointed by the company would be allowed to survey the perimeter and determine the locations of native customary land and burial grounds,” he said.
However, on March 22, 2003 three persons, namely Abu Bakar Pangis, Salim Ebrahim and Sapar Ismail filed a writ of summons in Miri High Court pertaining to Lot 3935.
They named Tung Cheong Sawmill Sdn Bhd, Superintendent of Land and Survey Miri Division, and the state government as defendants.
Therefore, said Sudarsono, since the matter was sub judice, the department was not able to proceed with the survey.
The hearing of the case has been scheduled for this coming Nov 19.
As for Lot 4448, he said officers from the Miri Land and Survey Department had inspected it twice. No cemetery was found within the area.
“However, I had directed my superintendent in Miri to call in the affected people soon to tackle the issues that they brought up.
“I emphasise here that there is no intention on the part of the government to evict the people from the 13 Kedayan-Malay villages as alleged,” he said.
He said resettlement of people was a very sensitive matter and any such programme would normally be handled by a state task force comprising ministers and the State Secretary.
To think or to imply that the ministers or the government was not aware of an eviction order involving 10,000 people was utterly ridiculous, he said.
He said initial investigation seemed to suggest that there were land speculators behind the whole issue and that the people had entered into illegal transactions and agreements with some so-called native customary land claimants to embark on plantation business.
“The department will not recognise such transactions and therefore advise the public not to be parties to them in order to avoid incurring losses,” he said.
On Sept 27, a group of people from 13 villages held a peaceful demonstration thinking that they were going to be evicted from their century-old settlement by a private developer.
They reportedly received a notice on Sept 15 from the company’s lawyers to leave within 14 days.
The affected villages are Kampung Beraya junction are Kampung Batu Satu, Butir, Kejapil, Keluru Tengah, Keluru Jaya, Subak, Sepurau, Selanyau, Opak, Tusan, Uban, Terahad and Beraya.
There are old burial grounds of Kedayan Muslims in the area and these are Kubur Islam Kejapil, Kubur Butir, Kubur Sungai Jalil, Uban and Kubur Sungai Payau.
The Kedayans settled in the area some time in 1910.
When asked to comment on the matter soon after the story was carried by the national daily, Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management Dato Sri Awang Tengah Ali Hassan said he was unaware that 10,000 people were going to be evicted.
“10,000 villages? Kedayan kampung given eviction notices? Well, honestly I don’t know. I have to find out,” he told reporters after handing out land titles to villagers at Singai near here recently.
He had no idea if the area in question had been earmarked for any development.
The villagers had also called on Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to intervene in the matter.
So, when met at his Hari Raya open house three days ago, Taib said he was open to discussions and stressed that the best way to solve that kind of problem was to meet with him.
You have used you blog to discredit the state government leaders again. What will you do if the person you badmouth in your blog decided to report you to the authority and also sue you for slander or for libel for the damage that you have created?
Government leaders/ministers are not Gods, okay. If they're not performing, we the raayat will be the ones "marking their report card". What damage? The damage has already been done by those who are supposed to protect us and act in the raayat's interest. We're just speaking out things that we see happening in front of us. This government better buck up or else.
TO anonymous (October 5, 2008 5:43 PM)
"You have used you blog to discredit the state government leaders again. What will you do if the person you badmouth in your blog decided to report you to the authority and also sue you for slander or for libel for the damage that you have created?"
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Why don't Taib sue The Borneo Post which reported about Taib's arrogance remarks? If Taib wants to sue the blog's owner, just sue lah...
Seeing Umno for what it is
- by a Malaysian Titanic 3rd Class Passenger
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The truth is that Umno has ruled supreme for the last 50 years. It always got it's way because the dominant ethnic majority of the country always supported it's policies.
The state of the nation is corrupt, racist, discriminatory, abusive, unjust, inefficient, and backwards. If Malaysia stinks then it is because Umno stinks.
If the morals of the country stinks, then it is because the morals of Umno politicians stinks.
I won't even discuss the morality of explosives and murder of foreign nationals as most people seem to be able to tell the difference between right and wrong in this instance.
Instead, I shall talk about Umno's corruption and Umno's racism as the former will occasion the disastrous downfall of this nation, and the latter will be the downfall of the Malays.
Umno teaches that it is just to discriminate against all non-Malays and non-Muslims - jobs, education, schools, colleges, universities, business opportunities, government contracts, concessions, taxes, and even finding a cemetery to bury the dead.
Umno teaches that it is right to discriminate on the basis of a person's race, culture, language or religious beliefs.
In front of non-Malays, it speaks of tolerance and unity in diversity, and in front of Malays it speaks of race, religious, cultural and language supremacy, and the glorification of power and ethnic subjugation.
Bung Mokhtar Radin's leadership role as characterised by a yobbish machismo, obscene gestures, medieval attitudes towards women and minorities, and strutting bigotry within Umno is not only not an accident of chance, but an exemplary example of Umno's appeal to the baser instincts and darker fantasies of it's ethnic constituency.
To the vernacular schools it gives a pittance for support, and to Malay language schools, there is no need to be diplomatic and call them ‘national language’ schools, it gives 100% support.
As for English-medium schools, the type that made Malaysian education the best in South East Asia, and our school-leavers the most sought after anywhere in the civilised world, they were made extinct, courtesy of Umno's language and cultural supremacist fantasies. So we are left with unemployable graduates with deplorable job skills and prospects.
Umno's policies caused a brain drain to Australia, New Zealand, UK, Canada, and the US.
Umno's language supremacist policies caused the extinction of the best high-quality education that Malaysia and the Malays would ever know.
Umno's perversion of the very idea of meritocracy in favour of racist discrimination has ensured the lack of meritocractic competition for all Malaysians.
Sooner or later, the Malays will realise that denying meritocracy to non-Malays guarantees that there can be no meritocracy for Malays even within their own community.
The fact that there is no notable inferiority complex nor entitlement complex or NEP dependence amongst the non-Malays is no accident.
If the non-Malays were the dominant ethnic majority, and they had an Umno-like racist party to lead them with promises of ethnic supremacy, and racial discrimination and ethnic privileges, then I believe they would have lost their self-confidence, self-respect, and self-belief too.
Farish Noor once said ‘Umno ternak Melayu untuk disembelih’.
I agree, and if the dominant ethnic majority fails to see past Umno's seductive promises of ethnic supremacy and false gods of ethnic aggrandisement, then we are all finished.
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