Kota Kinabalu, 23 August 2020: The 11,000 hectares belonging to smallholders would have been lost to a private company if not because of the last minute injunction obtained by two smallholders on 22 October 2018, said a smallholder family member, Dato Shuaib Mutalib.
Shuaib, who hails from Tungku in Lahad Datu revealed that two smallholders, Ettin Bin Ali a retired custom officer and Andurangan Bin Tubay, a retired police officer, had applied to the Court in Sandakan to stop the signing of a “Global Settlement Agreement” that the government wanted to be signed in October 2018. At the last minute and after much efforts, Ettin and Andurangan obtained the injunction and served it to Borneo Samudera Sdn. Bhd.
That agreement would have forced Borneo Samudera Sdn. Bhd. to transfer the land to a company called Paksi Angerik Sdn. Bhd. which is based in Kuala Lumpur.
The agreement would have also cancelled the Tawau High Court judgement that had made the reported RM557 million judgement in October 2014 involving a deputy chief minister and two others for unlawfully inducing the Bahagak Smallholders Scheme participants to breach their Joint Venture Agreement (JVA) with BSSB.
The smallholders are also very disappointed that their elected assemblyman for Tungku, who did nothing to help them, said its spokesman, Shuaib.
“These are the facts that the people must know,” he explained.