Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Tingkayu: Police to meet parties

Kota Kinabalu: Police will meet the parties involved in the Tingkayu issue to prevent a repeat of the attack that led to a man being murdered and two others injured on Feb 12.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with non-governmental organisation Borneo Heritage Foundation (BHF) led by its Chairman, Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, at his office, Tuesday, Sabah Commissioner of Police, Datuk Noor Rashid Ibrahim, said police needed to clarify their stand on the matter to both sides.

Meanwhile, Jeffrey, accompanied by Dr Chong Eng Leong, one of BHF's two directors, and other BHF members, met with Noor Rashid to express their concern over what happened in Tingkayu.

"We sought an explanation from the police on how they are going to maintain peace in Tingkayu. This is a very important aspect concerning security as what we heard was that the Tingkayu incident involved illegal immigrants who have MyKads," said Jeffrey.

"He (Noor Rashid) was very nice, very polite but there were a lot of unanswered questions like the allegation of police involvementÉhe told us to bring him proof if we had information on it.

"But as far as we know the action taken by them (police) seems to suggest they were responding more positively to the other side than to the smallholders," he said.

They were also frustrated with answers about people involved in the Tingkayu attack being foreigners with MyKads, he said.

"He said maybe there were only one or two but I think there are more than that," Jeffrey said, adding they also voiced claims that between 47 and 55 reports lodged by smallholders previously were not attended to by the police.

These reports involved threats made to the smallholders and their inability to enter the oil palm plantation, among others, he said.

"But we're happy with his attitude of wanting to improve thingsÉthat's a good start," he said.

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