TUARAN: Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal has been reminded not to continue lying to the people of Sabah that the land titles which he handed over during his district-to-district tour is an initiative of his Warisan Government.
Sabah Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (BERSATU) Chief, Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji Haji Noor, said Shafie has lied and his move clearly shows it is meant for fishing for votes and support from the people.
He claimed the land titles handed over by Shafie to the people actually had already been prepared much earlier through the Mobile Native Unit (PANTAS) which was initiated by the previous government.
He said PANTAS was a noble effort and initiative by the previous government to assist in speeding up the issuance of customary land titles to the people with funding from the Federal Government, following the delays encountered in the surveying process.
According to him, this approach is meant to ensure the issuance of Native Title (NT) land grants for those inhabiting Native Customary Right (NCR) lands can be speeded up to overcome the delays if going through the normal land application process.
“PANTAS Programme was an initiative of the previous government with the cooperation from the Federal government for resolving the NCR issue which has been troubling the indigenous people in Sabah for decades.
“Hence, the customary land grants had already been processed through the PANTAS Programme but which the previous government ran out of time so it was not able to hand it over to the people, and now being handed over by Shafie who then claimed it is the initiative of the Warisan Government!
“This is a lie. Shafie should stop using the customary land title grants to gain the people support, as now that Warisan’s popularity and support from the people are continuously dwindling,” he said.
Hajiji said this when officiating at the Tuaran BERSATU Armada Conference held at the hall of Linangkit Cultural Village, Kampung Selupoh, today.
Hajiji, who is also incumbent Sulaman State Assemblyman, said the people of Sabah are not blind, they know that PANTAS which has been implemented since year 2011 is an initiative of the previous government.
“Shafie who is currently busy going around to hand over the said land grants after he dissolved the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) is clearly seen as desperate in doing it due to the eroding people’s confidence and support towards his Warisan Government.
“If not desperate and it is not because of wanting to fish for support and votes from the people, why need to hurriedly doing the handing-over of the land titles through a special district-to-district tour throughout Sabah?
“Why not doing the handing-over of the titles before the DUN was dissolved? Why only now going all-out and so busy doing the handing-over?” asked Hajiji.
Former Sabah Lands and Surveys Department (JTU) Director, Datuk Safar Untong, was reported in 2018 saying (PANTAS) which has been implemented since 2011 has successfully resolved the state NCR surveying work problems for 36,137 hectares of land as at end of 2017.
It involved 21,378 land lots at 92 villages in 16 districts throughout the State where mostly are in rural and interior areas like Beaufort, Tuaran, Ranau, Kota Marudu, Sipitang and Semporna.
Other districts are Beluran, Kinabatangan, Tongod, Nabawan, Papar, Kudat, Sandakan, Keningau, Lahad Datu and Tawau, where the surveying works were done by 80 surveyor teams appointed by JTU.
Safar Untong said the programme is funded through a special allocation for NCR land from the Federal government which provided RM20 million a year, including for the land surveying for the issuance of group ownership or communal title grant.
Tuaran BERSATU Division Deputy Chief, Encik Kassim Haji Razali, Division Vice Chief, Encik Johari Saiman, Division’s Armada Chief, Encik Mohammad Ghazali Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Hajiji, Tuaran BERSATU Srikandi Chief, Puan Jamaliah Antalib, Division’s Secretary, Encik Afizal Aldin and Tuaran Armada Vice Chief, Encik Muhammad Arziz Afizi Rusmani, were also present.-pr/BNN
2. Hajiji (fifth from right) with Tuaran BERSATU Armada leadership and delegates.
