KOTA KINABALU – Former Sabah Forest Industries (SFI) workers want assurance from the Sabah chief minister that they will not be evicted from their homes within the estate’s land, saying they were unconvinced by promises from the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department that they could stay put.
A spokesman for the former SFI workers, Jeffrey Gopog, told The Vibes that the department has no authority with regards to a purported plan to re-employ former SFI workers in a new state government scheme involving sustainable forest timber utilisation, processing, management, conservation research and development.
“The Sabah government, through the Chief Minister’s Office, should be the right authority to make an official announcement with regards to the eviction and way forward for SFI and the SFI employees.
“The Sabah Lands and Surveys Department only (has the authority) on the official cap and rights about the land acquisition,” he said.
Jeffrey was referring to a press statement from the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department denying the supposed eviction of laid-off SFI workers still living in SFI quarters and asserting that they will eventually be re-employed.
This came after media reports that some 600 laid-off SFI employees were instructed to vacate their quarters at the former paper mill and estate at the end of October following the state’s move to take back the land.
On September 5 this year, the Sabah Lands and Surveys Department issued a reclamation notice for the 46.033ha estate which includes SFI workers’ quarters. The notice instructed families living on the premises to vacate the area within three months.
Gopog called the department’s statement yesterday “political damage control manoeuvring, a classic, basic, tactical PR game plan”.
“The chief minister or the Chief Minister’s Office must make a clear stand and explanation on this to make it official,” he stressed. – The Vibes, September 25, 2022
