KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government will be appealing against the High Court decision to grant customary rights to a family in Tawau to collect turtle eggs from the Sipadan Island.Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun confirmed this when asked on the matter after he launched the ground-breaking ceremony of the Sabah Art Gallery, here, yesterday.
“Yes, we are definitely going to appeal (to the High Court decision). But for now, the turtles can lay their eggs freely as the place is still a protected area, it is secured and nothing can be done there,” he said.
Recently, the High Court here allowed the application by traditional turtle eggs collector Ab Rauf Mahajud and other 70 family members to collect the turtle eggs around the Sipadan Island.
In the same judgement, Justice Datuk Linton Albert granted a similar claim by businessman Haji Abdillah Abdul Hamid to native customary rights over a 2.5-acre ancestral land on the island and to collect turtle eggs.