No letter from Shafie for land application

KENINGAU: A letter applying for land in Kampung Biah Skim in the sub-district of Sook here, allegedly backed by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal for distributions to Sabah Heritage Party (Warisan) supporters and went viral on social media recently, did not exist.

This was confirmed by Sook SubDistrict Community Development Leader (PPM), Edward Binbang yesterday.

Edward said that he had investigated the allegations on the application of 180 acres (73 ha) at Kampung Biah Skim here by obtaining a detailed explanation from the Keningau Office of Assistant Collector of Land Revenue (PPHT).

‘’No application of land that large was registered with the office. Claims that the applied land which would be distributed among Warisan’s supporters with each getting 15 acres (6.1 ha), was made by netizens and is political in nature and unfair to the local residents,” he told Bernama here.

The letter was purportedly made by a person by the name of “Abdul bin Naim” with 12 other people from Kampung Lingkudau here and had raised a debate among netizens when the letter was also said to be signed by Mohd Shafie, who is also the president of Warisan.

Edward said the PPHT Keningau Office had told him that there was no longer any vacant government land in the Kampung Biah Skim area.

“As a PPM in this area (Sook), I see that this should be taken into consideration to assure all the people in Sook that this will not happen again,” he said.

He advised the people in the area, especially netizens, not to spread matters which were unclear which could raise the public’s concern.

“All parties have the right to speak, but they must be guided and need to be able to confirm every issue that is not clear before distributing it to others,” he added. - Bernama