KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is open to a suggestion for the setting up of a special tribunal to resolve disputes involving native land.

Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman said the state would look into the various aspects of setting up such a body, as proposed by Chief Justice for Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum.

“We are giving due consideration to the matter,” he said after chairing the State Action Council meeting here on Tuesday.

He said the Sabah government was doing its best to ensure its ethnic communities were provided land for farming and other activities through the communal land title initiative.

Malanjum had said on Monday that such a tribunal was needed as an alternative, to the courts, in resolving disputes involving native land matters in the state.

He said such an alternative was necessary to ensure Sabah’s natives would not face an uphill task of proving their customary rights for the land as a commission is not bound by the Evidence Act, unlike the courts. There are 40 native land disputes still pending in court.

Meanwhile, Musa said he was glad to note that virtually all of the RM105mil for public and basic infrastructure projects for Sabah last year had been utilised.

“This achievement will be the benchmark for the implementation of similar projects this year,” he added.

Musa said Sabah’s overall performance in the carrying out of development projects was still below the national average.

According to the Federal Develop-ment Office, some RM4.2bil or 72.9% of development funds for the state last year had been utilised compared to the national average of 93.8%.

“To overcome this situation, such programmes or projects must becarried immediately after approval is given under the rolling plan principle,” he added.

source ; Star property