Longhouse folk in 5-year wait over ancestral grave relocation compensation
BINTULU: The residents of Uma Balui Liko in Sungai Asap, Belaga are urging the state government to give due consideration to their compensation claim involving the relocation of 48 ancestral graves in 2012.
Group spokesman Ngian Diman said two letters had been forwarded to the relevant authority regarding the issue.
“The first letter was dated March 6, 2012, and the second letter was dated Feb 28, 2014. But up to now, we still have not received any reply about the status of our compensation claim,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Ngian said the claim for compensation was issued after the residents had to relocate the old graves at their own expense after the site, where the graves were initially relocated by the authority in 2012, became flooded.
He pointed out that the roughly 15 longhouses involved in the 2012 relocation had been given compensation by the state government.
“The museum (initially) relocated the graves to a designated area that they believed would not be flooded. However, it was later found that the site was also inundated.
“We took a drastic initiative and relocated the graves on our own to another site in accordance with our custom,” he added.
“Our elected representatives have been informed about this; they are probably also still waiting for the state government to decide.
“We just want to know the outcome and the status of our application to get the compensation,” said Ngian.
According to him, the residents did not want the issue to be played up or politicised in the future, adding the compensation claim should be paid in accordance with their ‘adat pemali perundangan kod ketua masyarakat’.
“We hope the government would consider our request accordingly.”