KOTA KINABALU – Residents of several villages in Sabah are puzzled as they suddenly find themselves restricted from using their local community centres or halls, especially if these facilities are situated on school grounds.
The Vibes learned that several schools are erecting fences and locking their gates, preventing outsiders from accessing these facilities.
Community halls and centres have been an integral part of villages here for decades, some even predating the construction of the schools or the allocation of land by the Sabah Government to the Education Ministry for the construction of schools.
The Malaysian Humanitarian International Organisation (MHO) became aware of this trend when villagers from the districts of Tuaran, Kota Belud, Kota Marudu, and Tambunan sought their assistance after being denied access by school administrators.
Jerry Jaimeh, MHO's Sabah coordinator, noted that this issue had arisen in Tuaran, particularly in Kampung Bundung, involving the local primary school, and anticipates similar problems emerging in the future.
“This issue isn't isolated to Kampung Bundung and is likely to occur throughout Sabah, particularly where these facilities are located on school grounds.
“These are public facilities, not owned by the schools, intended for use by villagers and for school-related activities,” he stated.
Community halls or centres are constructed and maintained with government funding under the supervision of community leaders.
Questions arise about who will bear the cost of maintaining these buildings if schools enclose them within their compounds.
In the case of Kampung Bundung, Jerry explained that the community centre was built in the 1980s and sustained through constituency allocation funds.
When the school was established later, an agreement was reached for joint use between the local communities and school activities, he said.
“However, the villagers and school administrators in Kampung Bundung have reached a compromise and will formalise an understanding to continue sharing the facility,” he added.
According to Jeffrey Stephen, chairman of the Village Security and Development Committee, the school has agreed to keep the community hall open for local villagers.
“The school has also informed us that they have registered the building in the school records and will cover the maintenance costs,” Stephen stated after meeting with school administrators.
This meeting followed an incident where residents of Kampung Bundung were barred from entering the school grounds to use the community hall.
Sabah Education Director Raisin Saidin, when contacted over the matter, questioned the occurrence of such incidents.
It remains unclear whether the Education Ministry has issued any directive to fence up these amenities within school grounds.
However, these incidents align with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's announcement in January that land previously allocated to the federal government as far back as the 1970s for educational and healthcare purposes, but left undeveloped, would be returned to the states at the original purchase price.
In July, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof announced that the federal government had agreed to return 55 lots of land acquired from the Sabah and Sarawak governments. – The Vibes, September 28, 2023
