2/10/06 (The Star)  - KENINGAU: A proposed mini estate to benefit the poor in this interior Sabah district has instead got a group of farmers up in arms as they claim the project will cause them to lose the land they had been tilling for more than two decades.

The farmers staged a peaceful protest when Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan turned up at Kampung Bunang, 25km from Keningau, to launch the project recently.

The farmers’ spokesman Robert Lunau approached Pairin and handed over a protest letter. 

 
Some of the protesting farmers carrying placards during the launch of the mini estate for the hardcore poor in Keningau recently.

At Pairin’s prompting, Robert said the farmers were upset that they had to make way for the Sabah Forest Development Authority (Safoda)-initiated mini-estate as they were the original settlers in the area.

“We have planted crops on this land since 1986 and now we are being considered trespassers. It’s unfair,” Robert said, adding that they had written about their plight to Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman on April 17 this year but there was no response.

Robert said the farmers had received eviction letters from the state Land and Survey Department.

“We will not budge until our rights are restored,” said Robert, adding that the affected farmers like him did not mind if they were included in the mini plantation scheme.

Pairin said he would study the farmers’ protest letter before making a decision.

He said the 424ha mini oil palm estate was for the benefit of 400 poor families from around Keningau who were earning less than RM500 a month and were in dire need of state assistance.