Ministry agrees to do away with water villages in Sabah

(The Rakyat Post) – Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor agrees, in principle, with doing away with the water villages in the state.

“In principle, I agree with the idea. But it is not an overnight job; it needs thorough study,” he told The Rakyat Post when asked to comment on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s suggestion to demolish water villages.

Dr Mahathir argued that the water villages had outlived their necessity and were also no longer needed with the availability of appropriate roads and supplies.

Hajiji said it was about time to demolish such villages, especially with the latest development where several militants were found hiding in these areas in Tawau.

“It takes time. We need to study the idea to see whether it is possible to do.

“We have to find out ways and where to relocate the villagers. To do so, we need to screen them because only locals, with documents, will be relocated.

“As for illegal immigrants, they will be handed to relevant authorities, for further action.”

Hajiji said his ministry would be studying the matter and would table it at the Sabah Cabinet meeting before forwarding it to the federal government.

“To demolish water villages and squatter houses, we need an allocation to build houses for the people. And this is the responsibility of both the state and federal governments.

“We need money to build Rumah Rakyat for them  and this would come from the federal government.

“On our side, we will have to identify suitable land to build these houses, either on government land or privately-owned lands.”

Hajiji said a lot of things needed to be taken into consideration.

“This will include housing projects, which need to be built close to coastal areas as most residents of water villages are fishermen.

“We do not want them to lose their source of income, plus we also want to keep them close for easy monitoring.”

Dr Mahathir had stressed that as long as water villages existed, Sabah, in particular, would not be safe from intrusions by terrorists and smugglers.

Such intrusions have continued in Sabah, even after the Lahad Datu incident.

Police have also proposed that the Sabah government expedite resettlement of water village residents to a safer environment and destroy the “nests” of criminals.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar had said earlier that the move was crucial to prevent intruders, kidnappers and terrorists from neighbouring southern Philippines from further using water villages as a base for their activities.

In the latest incident on Saturday at a resort at Pulau Mabul in Semporna, a corporal, Abdul Rajah Jamuan, 32, was shot dead and a constable, Zakiah Aleip, 26, was abducted by eight armed intruders believed to be from southern Philippines.

Following the incident, the government had imposed a curfew in certain areas and set out designated routes for boats to enter Sabah waters legally.