Defence Ministry moves to soothe Dusun natives

By Luke Rintod of FMT

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi

KOTA BELUD: The local grapevine in Kota Belud is abuzz over a scheduled visit by Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, seen as an attempt to soothe uneasiness among the local Dusun natives ahead of a crucial general election.

Word is that Zahid is coming to Sabah to, among others, attend a briefing and visit areas in Kem Paradise that could be excised and later be “given back” to the surrounding Dusun Tindal villages in the area.

Kem Paradise is a huge army training base in Kota Belud. It’s probably the only military base in the world that shares its turf with densely populated villages.

Zahid is scheduled to have close-door talks with few leaders and authorities including with the District Officer, Gari Itam, during his visit.

The visit was supposed to be low-profile but now expectations are high as it had filtered out to local leaders that the minister had been ‘directed’ to visit Kem Paradise and “identify” areas to be excised from the huge army area.

Several Dusun villages are practically trapped within Kem Paradise with school going children, the aged and simple-minded old folks traversing daily across the camp’s vast grounds.

Since the 1980s, there have been scores of reports of fatal accidents involving Dusun natives in the army training areas.

Most of the fatal accidents involved natives being blown by mortar bombs they collected as iron junks, supposedly to be sold as scrap metals.

Among the kampungs in or “overlapping” the army areas are Tengkurus, Bangkahak, Tambulion, Losou Podi, Losou Minunsud, Rosok, and Sorob.

A community leader from Tempasuk here, James Bagah, who is also president of the Sabah Dusun Tindal Organisation (USTO) called on the government to close down altogether the army training area and shift it to a more strategic areas, perhaps in the east-coast of Sabah.

‘Relocate camp’

Bagah, who is also president of Consumer Association of Sabah (CAPS) said more and more Kota Belud Tindal natives, especially those directly affected by the carving out of the almost 10,000 acres of army training area – done during Berjaya government – are in need of lands now as their families have expanded.

“The federal and state government should consider closing down Kem Paradise and relocate it perhaps to Sandakan or eastern coast of Sabah like Semporna and Tawau where such a military set up would be needed more,” he said to FMT who visited the area recently.

Another community leader from Kota Belud, lawyer Peter Marajin, also shared Bagah’s opinion adding the huge military area should be shifted as it has been “proven” that it should be in a less populated area to avoid more casualties.

“Kota Belud is a peaceful district and it is saddening to note that every now and then we hear reports of incidents involving the local Dusun Tindals community.

“Instead of being “protected” from such facilities, our people get killed and properties are disturbed, due to self negligence and also simply because the army training is within the vicinity of these original kampungs who were there since time immemorial.

“In normal cases, bombs landed on graves, the peoples’ livestock injured or killed, and even padi fields would be affected, fences were torn, all sorts of reports.

“But in extreme cases, natives got killed by mortar bombs they mistakenly as used bomb shells and therefore good for scrap metals business,” he said.

Upgraded road

There had been many similar calls for relocation before, and one of them was from the Federal Rural and Regional Development Deputy Minister, Hasan Malek, who visited the area and in particular Kampung Losou Podi, a few months ago.

He had reportedly said that the army training there was no longer appropriate as its vicinity was surrounded by (growing) kampungs.

Hasan proposed that the army area instead be turned into villages for the natives to toil as agricultural fields.

“Not only that, but these areas are rich in natural beauties and therefore could be turned as tourism attraction,” he said after visiting a kampung road to Losou Podi, which the ministry built.

The 15km rural road which cost the ministry RM25.5 million to upgrade and asphalt was completed last year. It cuts across the Kem Paradise army training area. Natives vehicles share the road with army trucks and all other light and heavy military vehicles.

There were never been any incident of unfriendly skirmishes between the civilian and military usage of that road since 1980s, making Kem Paradise also one of a most successful military installation in the world.