The Chief Minister (seated centre) with the recipients of the land titles.
SEMPORNA: Recipients of land titles will be provided with seedlings of high demand fruits to enable them to have an income from their land.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Mohd Shafie Apdal said this after the handing of land titles at the Semporna Community Hall yesterday to 553 recipients – 97 from Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) and 437 natives in the district.
He said some of the entitled recipients had passed away after waiting for 30 to 40 years and the titles would be given to their children.
“This is a new step on the part of the government to fulfil its promises to those who have applied for quite a long time,” he said.
The government, he said, would also ensure that the titles would not only belong to them (owners), but they can also develop the land, and sell them.
He said the government encouraged this and he had asked the Agriculture Department to carry out a program to ensure several products can be offered to the land owners for them to plant so that the land can be fully utilized.
He said they can build houses and plant fruit clones such as durian, pamelo, coconut and fruits with high demand.
Shafie said with this way they would have income from their land.
The Chief Minister also reminded the recipients of the land titles not to sell the land to others.
“Develop them and not let them remain vacant or overgrown with lalang,” he said.
Shafie added that the state government would continue to give land titles to deserving people in all districts in Sabah.
“These lands are not big but what is important is that the people benefit,” he said, adding similar efforts were made in Tongod and Tambunan, and after this in Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kalabakan, Pensiangan and Keningau.
Meanwhile, a recipient of the SLDB land, Asmin Maddai, 50, welcomed Shafie’s call to diversify crops in SLDB lands.
“At present, we are planting oil palms in the Pegagau Plan land, after this I want to suggest planting durian or pineapple,” he said, adding that he was thankful to the state government for the land title.
Zainal Abu Kassim, 56, was one year old when his father Abu Kassim Ahmad became an SLDB settler.
He said he had waited for more than 50 years for the land title.
“Right now, the land is planted with oil palms, after this, my sister and I will plant other crops,” he said.
Both Asmin and Zainal said they would never sell the land as their fathers had worked on it and fought hard to get the land titles.