Headmen not against govt

 

by Simon Ingka Crown, reporters@theborneopost.com. Posted on February 1, 2012, Wednesday

NOT HAPPY WITH EVENTS: Tinsun (left) with his elder brother Chin Foo (right).

KUCHING: All the Tuai Rumahs (TR) from Ensebang Melikin sub-district who lodged a police report over the encroachment of their lands by private companies yesterday said they had nothing against the government.

Instead, they remained as ‘the government’s men’ and were only angry at the unscrupulous companies, whom they described as ‘the real outsiders’.

“We still receive our remuneration from the government every month.

Even some of us are former government officers,” explained TR Tinsun Anchau, 67, from Kampung Telagus.

The village chiefs said they lodged the report because as leaders they had to defend the people’s rights over their lands and communal reserve.

Tinsun recalled the moment he realised he lost his land when he was about to start work at his farm. “The whole area, which is about 20 acres, was wiped out and was so ‘clean’. I lost quite a number of my durian trees, rambutan trees but losing the land right under my nose was something that I couldn’t imagine,” he said.

The next day was even worse for him, he said, as the companies also encroached into his other parcel of land measuring about 50 acres.

“They did the same by clearing some parts of my land (NCR land) at Kampung Kelumbi (not far from Telagus) and it was about 25 acres,” he added.

Tinsun said another piece of land was guarded by his elder brother Chin Foo, 79, who lived next to the land. “We blame the companies for not consulting us. There was no real negotiation between us and the companies and they just simply came, trespassing unlawfully, threatening us and taking everything away,”

Tinsun grieved. He thus called on the government to withdraw the Provisional Lease given to the companies.

“We are hoping that the government will look into our problems seriously,” he pleaded.