Cops probe illegals in violent land dispute

Police in Sabah are probing reports that a land dispute in Tingkayu, Kunak, which resulted in one death and three injuries, including to a lawyer, follows an attempt by illegal immigrants to seize all or most of a 1,618ha piece of plantation land from local smallholders in defiance of a court order.

Sabah police commissioner Noor Rashid Ibrahim confirmed that five suspects were taken into custody, including an Indonesian, within 72 hours of the incident last Thursday when 45 local smallholders were set upon by an undisclosed number of workers from an oil palm plantation at the centre of the land dispute.

Police have also identified 14 other suspects and are currently looking for them.

Noor Rashid said the violence occurred after the local smallholders and their lawyer, Valentino James Tanggar, 28, tried to enter the Tingkayu plantation to harvest their oil palm fruits. They were armed with a court injunction issued to them on Feb 1 last year by the Tawau High Court.

The injunction prohibits a co-operative, its workers and its agents from preventing 171 smallholders from entering the disputed land and harvesting their oil palm fruits.

"The attack happened about 50m from the main gate inside the plantation," said Noor Rashid. "The workers in the plantation claimed that some of those who tried to enter the plantation were not listed in the court injunction and they tried to prevent these people from entering. Something went wrong."

The suspects will be investigated under Section 302 and 307 of the Penal Code for murder and attempted murder respectively.

Noor Rashid added that police did not provide the smallholders involved in the incident with an escort since they can't be seen as taking sides in a civil dispute.

Narrow escape

The body of the deceased , identified as Seipon Kayabo, 46, was discovered by police last Friday under a heap of dried oil palm fronds, about 100m from where the attack took place. He was found with slash wounds on his forehead and a gunshot wound in his back.

Lawyer Tanggar, who received five stitches from injuries sustained during the incident, heard five shots being fired from two bakakuks (home-made shotguns). "One person pointed a bakakuk at my chin and pulled the trigger but it failed to discharge," said Tanggar.

"My right forefinger was injured when I tried to ward off a parang swung at me by another attacker."

Before the incident, Tanggar tried to obtain a police escort to accompany the smallholders to the plantation land at the centre of the dispute. However, his request was denied by ASP Dzulmukzani Ismail of the Kunak district police station on the grounds that there was no warrant from the court for the smallholders to execute the injunction.

Dzulmukzani also informed him that three to five policemen had been placed at Kampung Tingkayu since Feb 10 for security reasons following a quarrel there and they would be available, should the need arise.

"I tried to contact Dzulmukzani several times on the day of the incident but failed," said Tanggar. "I also sent him an SMS informing him of our movements but there was no response.

"We moved in a group of 45 people in several four-wheel drive vehicles and a three-ton lorry. Upon reaching the gate of the Tingkayu land, we found the gate locked with a big chain."

Subsequently a caretaker, believed to be a foreigner, opened the gates to allow the visitors in. The visitors were then set upon by about 100 to 150 workers from the disputed plantation land. They were led by one Alimudin Ajay and brandished parangs, samurai swords, spears and bakakuks.

"I told Alimudin that I was representing the smallholders and that the police would come at any time," said Tanggar."He shouted, ‘Police Kunak saya punya’ (Kunak police are mine). He took out a long parang and then ordered his men to attack us. I realised that our lives were in danger and gave the order to retreat."

'So many unanswered questions'

The visitors had to ram the gates open with their vehicles to escape but not before Ali, a smallholder, collapsed with injuries to his face and stomach from a long iron pipe. Tanggar lodged a police report about the incident at the Karamunsing police station in Kota Kinabalu last Saturday.

Information pieced together from various sources, including Tanggar, suggests that the main players in the land dispute appear to be smallholders who had planted oil palm trees on the land and a defunct co-operative or its ‘employees’ who are believed to be illegal immigrants holding MyKads.

"It is actually more complicated than that," said PKR national vice-president Dr Jeffrey Gimpoi Kitingan. "Besides the smallholders and the defunct co-operative, two other companies to which the co-operative 'double-sold' the land are also fighting for ownership of the land.

"There are so many unanswered questions. Why were land enquiries held by the authorities in 2003 entertaining the co-operative when they knew that the co-operative was already cancelled and that the smallholders had lawfully applied and developed the land under a government scheme?" he asked.

Sepanggar MP Eric Majibun, in condemning the attack in Tingkayu, claimed that similar incidents involving locals and illegal immigrants have been happening in other parts of Sabah but on a smaller scale.

"Most of the illegal immigrants are now declaring themselves as locals," claimed Majimbun. "They in fact purchase or obtain MyKads illegally. Everyone knows the difference between a local and a foreigner."