Land fraud by authorities

‘My dead mother returned and thumprinted document?’

Michael Kaung

| August 20, 2011

Native Abdul Wahab Timbasal's mother died 12 years ago but 'returned' to transfer their native land to someone else.

TAWAU: When the dead in Sabah rise and start

affixing their thumbprints on land title deeds it may be time to call in a ‘religious medium’ to get to the truth.

Abdul Wahab Timbasal’s mother died 12 years ago but according to the land office here, she had ‘returned’ and claimed her land title on 15 June 2008, and that too by placing her thumbprint on the grant in front of a lawyer!

The size of the land, his mother ‘returned’ to claim measures 18.10 acres and is located in Ulu Kalumpang and is registered under the Native Title (NT) number 103032408.

A puzzled Abdul Wahab, only discovered this land-grab on April 14 this year when he went to the Land and Survey Department headquarters in Kota Kinabalu to enquire about the land title.

They told him that the title had already been sent to department’s office here on March 1, 2004.

“On May 25, I went to the land office and they told me the grant had already been taken by my mother.

“In the grant copy it showed that mother had signed in front of a lawyer on June 15, 2008.

“But how can this be … my mother died twelve years ago,” Abdul Wahab told reporters during a press conference here in the presence of state PKR council member Kong Hong Ming.

He said he immediately lodged a police report on the matter but had not received any answers until today.

Land fraud common in Sabah

Abdul Wahab said that on earlier this week (August 15), he had met the ‘new’ owner of the land.

“I met the new owner and he told me that my mother sold the land to him.

“I was shocked and contacted Mr Kong in the PKR office in Tawau,” he said.

Kong, a practising lawyer, has made a name for himself acting pro bono for various poor villagers in their disputes with plantations and private companies who have taken over vast tracks of land in the state.

Kong said that based on the facts it is a typical case of land fraud.

“It is very familiar. Normally this sort of case we need to investigate further until the truth prevails.

“There are many cases of persons taking over dubious land deeds.

“They could be victims themselves or they could be the perpetrators.

“One of the means is to go to court to seek justice.

“I must say this case of land transfer using fraud is not uncommon in Sabah especially with land becoming an expensive commodity.

“My advice to the public is to be cautious on land transfers or deeds and go through the professionals,” Kong advised.

Police report

In another separate case, another land owner, Yong Den Fah, was also shocked to find out that a 19.25-acre C.L (Commercial Lease) land he bought in 1999 had been converted and issued an NT title this year without his knowledge.

He said he discovered the scam from the previous owner who told him that a senior officer from the land office here had offered to buy the land early this year from the first owner.

“I also found out that another land title was issued under NT for the same land this year and was transferred to another person in February this year without my knowledge.

“The first land owner also did not know about the transfer,” said Yong.

He said in 1999 when he bought the land it had already been planted with oil palm by SLDB (Sabah Land Development Board) under the rubber smallholder scheme.

Later in 2006 the land was replanted with oil palm.

“In April this year my workers told me that someone was doing site clearing on the land.

“My worker who lives there said that a senior officer from the Land and Survey department supervised the clearing works for two weeks,” he said.

Yong said he had made a police report on May 16 about the trespassing and named the officer.

No reponse despite complaints

He also wrote four complaint letters to the Land and Survey Department director but has not received any response yet.

“I decided to approach the PKR for assistance,” he said during the same new conference yesterday.

Kong pointed out that a plot of land should not have two titles.

According to him, before the new NT land title is issued the Land and Survey Department must demand for the CL title to be surrendered before any new title can be issued.

Kong said he has agreed to render his legal assistance to Abdul Wahab and Yong.

He called on the Land and Survey department to seriously look into the matter and take immediate action in view of the rampant land scam cases reported from across the State.

Patrick Teoh to all Malaysians

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt224G3c6WE&feature=youtu.be

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Sarawak: Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud - a Freemason!

1. MoCS man lashes Taib & co!

Joseph Tawie

| July 15, 2011

Aug 13 rally is on because the !is as legit as the Freemasons, of which the CM is a member, says Salleh Jafaruddin.

KUCHING: A state minister’s criticism of the Movement for Change Sarawak (MoCS) has provoked a tirade against Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and his government from Salleh Jafaruddin, a former strongman of Taib’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB).

The outburst included an accusation that Taib was a member of the Freemason society, which many Muslims despise.

Salleh was responding to Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, the Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management, who had remarked that MoCS had yet to be registered and therefore could not go ahead with a Bersih-style rally that it was planning for Aug 13.

He said: “Does Awang Tengah realise that not all unregistered societies are considered illegal?”

“The Freemasons are a well-known weird secret society having a branch in Sarawak. Its members are prominent personalities in the state like Abdul Taib Mahmud, Mr. J.C. Fung (a former attorney general of Sarawak) and many others too many to list.

“Why hasn’t the Registrar of Societies declared the organisation illegal?

“For that matter why hasn’t the ROS declared illegal some known illegal gangs that have been operating in the state for ages?

“I’m pretty sure that it was Awang Tengah who was asked by Taib to approve a piece of state land in Kuching for the Freemasons to build their ceremonial lodge a couple of years back.”

He alleged that the approval was given when Taib held the portfolio of Planning and Resource Management.

Salleh and Taib are cousins. Salleh is a former deputy education minister and used to be a vice president in PBB. In the last state election, he contested against Taib in Balingian as an independent candidate supported by MoCS.

The Aug 13 rally, which MoCS bills as a “walk for democracy and reforms”, is seen as an attempt to force Taib to resign.

Speaker criticised

Responding to Awang Tengah’s remark that the people of Sarawak had made their choice in the recent election, Salleh said:

“Do you mean that you and your bosses allow deceit to flourish freely and be kept undetected and continuously hidden under the many dirty underpants of the 55 filthily democratically elected members of the Sarawak Legislative Assembly?”

He also took a swipe at State Assembly Speaker Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar, saying he “deliberately disallowed” opposition representatives from “seeking the truth” in the recent session of the assembly.

“Your speaker unceremoniously restricted the rights of the 15 elected members of the Sarawak opposition to seek clarification or to ask questions in the Dewan on corruption allegedly committed by your boss and many others, perhaps including yourself.

“If the 15 elected members of the opposition are disallowed, deliberately prevented from seeking the truth about problems faced by the people or mistakes committed by elected leaders of the government of the day, who else can the public turn to for help other than a coalition of NGOs?”

He said “deceits and lies must be stopped” through public exposure because there was no other alternative.

He said MoCS, conscious of its social responsibility, had decided to “openly seek the truth” and thereby make voters in Sarawak aware of their constitutional rights.

“These rights should not be unethically restricted through unleashing of administrative and political power.

“Awang Tengah should be supportive of MoCS because once Taib voluntarily retires from office, he has the opportunity to take over from him, unless he is also a member of the Sarawak pyramid of corruption.”

Malaysia July 9 Predators

Predators and preys on July 9

B Nantha Kumar

| July 14, 2011

BN and Pakatan can claim Bersih 2.0 as personal victories but the success really belonged exclusively to the people who shared moments of unconditional kindness.

COMMENT

I am a photojournalist and having witnessed four major rallies – Bersih 1.0, Hindraf, Anti-ISA and PPSMI (a rally against the teaching of science and mathematics in English) – I feel compelled to register my shock and awe at how the July 9, Bersih 2.0′s “Walk for Democracy” turned into a playground for predators and a nursery for unconditional kindness.

There were thousands of Malaysian on July 9 in Kuala Lumpur, all aiming to find their way to the goalpost – Stadium Mederka.

They were all to assemble there and the Bersih steering committee would then march to the palace to give the King the eight-point memorandum.

The runup to the July 9 Bersih 2.0 was anything but smooth. Likewise on D-day July 9.

I must admit Bersih 2.0 was not the largest gathering of people I have seen. Some of the other rallies were even bigger.

But for reasons best known to Umno and Barisan Nasional, Bersih 2.0 peace march was branded as “dangerous” and its president Ambiga S, a traitor for urging Malaysians to support calls for electoral reforms.

Umno-BN was rattled by the Bersih 2.0′s yellow wave (their T-shirt was yellow) and they used all available avenues to warn and instill fear in the hearts and minds of Malaysians supporting the call for fair and free elections.

On July 9, I was told the police had placed nearly 7,000 personnel included Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) and its traffic unit in the “restricted” Kuala Lumpur zone.

Ninety-one people had been issued a restriction order and were barred from entering certain parts of Kuala Lumpur. Before, more than over 200 people had been arrested in relation to July 9.

All this was staggering for me.

Never in the past have I heard of so many policemen on the ground at one spot at one time or that a restrictive order has been issued.

Screaming and scrambling

I was stationed at Jalan Pudu.

By the time, the clock chimed 1pm, there were some 30,000 Bersih members who had flooded Menara Maybank near Jalan Pudu and Tun Perak intersection.

The FRU shot tear gas and sprayed a chemical-laced liquid from the water cannon directly at the protesters.

It was shocking. Thousands of men and women were screaming and scrambling for shelter.

But the police kept chasing and hunting them down like prey.

There was something even stranger – rows of FRU personnel kept relentlessly shooting rounds of tear gas directly at the crowd.

Their demeanour was clear – the FRU and police were there to hunt the protesters down, hurt and frighten supporters. They were not there to disperse the crowd.

In Jalan Pudu, for instance, they blocked off one end and ambushed the suppporters from Jalan Tun Perak.

The protesters had no place to hide and had to run into Tung Shin Hospital.

The second incident was when police started arresting supporters who refused to back off despite the tear gas and water cannon.

The police appeared uncontrollable. They punched some supporters and were physically brutal when making arrest.

Acts of kindness

At one point the Pasukan Unit Amal from PAS tried to calm the police, but a constable took out his gun and pointed it at him.

But his colleagues quickly grabbed him and dragged him away.

I have had sleepless nights since then wondering what would have happened had the policeman opened fire.

And what if the public had retaliated?

I was there and lived to tell the experience.

The police were more interested in arresting people than helping those who were injured.

There was an old Malay man who succumbed to the tear gas and fell to the ground convulsing. The police were around him but they did nothing.

One policeman actually poked the convulsing old man with his leg to see if he was dead or alive.

In the end it was the ordinary Malaysians who rallied together and carried him to safety.

Real victory

In another instant, I was caught in the middle of a massive crowd when the FRU started shooting tear gas at us.

I was unprepared and suffered shortness of breath.

Suddenly, a middle-aged Malay woman pull my hand and shoved a bottle of mineral water into it.

“Minumlah adik. Lepas itu bagi kat orang sebelah,” she said.

I hurriedly drank the water and passed the bottle around. When I turned to thank her, she had disappeared into the crowd presumably to help others with water.

I have no clue who she is or why she felt compelled to aid me but my colleagues stationed in other points of the rally have told me many similar stories of pure kindness.

Both the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional and opposition Pakatan Rakyat have claimed “political” victory on July 9.

But for me this is not important.

I am awed by the kindness I have seen and experienced, and by the simple truth that Ambiga – who on behalf of Malaysians called for electoral reforms and who was subsequently defamed – has united all irrespective of gender, age, race and creed.

I don’t know the woman who helped me, but then again neither did the thousands of others who were aided in their time of need during the rally on July 9.

This is the clean spirit of Bersih which BN and Pakatan will never understand.

This is to me the real victory.