20 evicted families seek help from state govt
KOTA KINABALU: Following an eviction notice, some 20 families with 180 people in Sandakan, are appealing to the state government to get them new houses.
The families claim they had bought the lands and had stayed there for two to three decades.
But it was later brought to their attention that the lands were registered under the names of other people.
The villagers from Kg Tinusa 1, Batu 7, said they were given eviction notices last year and were asked to move out from Dec 27 and early this month.
On Monday, they staged a peaceful demonstration, urging the government to help resolve the matter.
One of the representatives Samsudin Baco said decades ago, the villagers had bought plots of lands from a fellow villager there for a price of between RM2,500 and RM10,000.
“However, after payments had been made, we then found out that the lands were owned by some other people with a country lease (CL),” he said.
He said the CL holder had requested them to move out since 1996, but there was no court order to demolish the houses.
Samsudin claimed that the CL holder had sometime in 2000, started forcing villagers to move out of their homes.
“We have appointed five lawyers to help us fight the case but our appeal to stay on the land was rejected by the High Court last year,” he said.
He said villagers now have nowhere to go and do not know how to start afresh.
“We hope the state government can help us as we have been living here for so long.
“We even have proof of purchase for our plots of lands,” Samsudin said.
Sandakan MP Datuk Stephen Wong when contacted, said he had assisted the villagers in delaying their move from five years ago when he was still the opposition leader.
“But the villagers lost their appeal in court last year,” he said, adding that it was a complicated matter and he would figure how to go about helping them.