Sabah considers a tribunal to resolve land disputes

Tuesday, 21 February 2012 21:30

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is open to a suggestion for the setting up of a special tribunal to resolve disputes involving native land.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the state would look into the various aspects of such a body proposed by Chief Justice for Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.

“We are giving due consideration on the matter,” he said after chairing the State Action Council meeting here recently.

He said the government on its part was doing its best to ensure Sabah’s ethnic communities were provided land for farming and other activities through the communal land title initiative.

Malanjum had said that such a tribunal was needed as an alternative to the courts to resolve disputes involving native land matters here.

He added that such an alternative was needed to ensure Sabah natives would not face an uphill task of proving their customary rights for the land as a commission would not be bound by the Evidence Act unlike the courts where some 40 native land disputes were pending.

Meanwhile, Musa said he was glad to note that virtually all of the RM105mil for public and basic infrastructure projects for Sabah last year had been utilised.

“This achievement will the benchmark for the implementation of similar projects this year,” he added.

Musa said Sabah’s overall performance in the carrying out of development project was still below the national average.

According to the Federal Development Office, some RM4.2bil or 72.9% of development funds for the state last year had been utilised compared to the national average of 93.8%.

“To overcome this situation, those involved programmes or projects must be carried immediately after their approval is given under the rolling plan principle,” he added.

From TheStar