Lubok Bunting villagers want MACC to probe land venture
KUCHING: A group of villagers from Kampung Lubok Bunting, Simunjan, is requesting the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission ( MACC) to probe a case where land was allegedly taken by a company.
Speaking to reporters outside the MACC Sarawak headquarters here yesterday, their legal counsel Dominique Ng said the villagers would lodge a formal report with the Commission on Monday ( Dec 10).
According to Ng, the Sarawak government set aside the over 1,000 acres of land in Kampung Lubok Bunting for the purpose of village expansion.
“The villagers then entered a joint venture with a company
Even though the land is for village expansion, I don’t think they (villagers) mind, as it is for development. More so, they don’t have the capacity to clear the land.But what happens now is that their land doesn’t belong to them anymore.
Dominique Ng, legal counsel
following a letter of offer dated Jan 10, 2000 to develop that piece of land.
“Even though the land is for village expansion, I don’t think they (villagers) mind, as it is for development. More so, they don’t have the capacity to clear the land. But what happens now is that their land doesn’t belong to them anymore,” he said.
Ng said most of the villagers are illiterate and did not know that the company which entered the joint venture with them is not the company that is actually developing the land.
According to him, all the villagers want is for the MACC to get to the bottom of the matter.
“They want to know why the land, set aside by the state government for village expansion, can end up with a company that has nothing to do with the one they entered joint venture with,” he added.
It is learnt that the case affects 80 households comprising over 1,000 villagers in Kampung Lubok Bunting, which is located over 100km from here.