The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) will hold a public inquiry into the alleged ill-treatment of a group of villagers while under police detention in Sabah.

Suhakam vice chairperson Simon Sipaun said in a statement that the decision to hold the inquiry was made at the commissioners' monthly meeting today.

Sipaun, who also heads the commission's branch in Sabah, said Suhakam had immediately requested for information from the Sabah police to determine the truth of the allegations after receiving several complaints from the villagers in June and July this year.

"Unfortunately, we received negative response from the police and this has impeded our investigations," he said.

The group of villagers, from Kampung Monteki in Kundasang, a scenic town situated at the foot of Mt Kinabalu, claimed that they were ill treated by the police during their two-week detention at the Ranau police station in May.

Among other things, they claimed that they were denied the right to pray and that they were ill-treated.

"In absence of the relevant information from the police and the fact that the complainants were detained for 14 days at the Ranau police station, particularly when some of them had to seek medical treatment upon release, Suhakam has decided to get to the bottom of the allegation by holding a public inquiry," Sipaun said in the statement.

He said the power to hold a public inquiry is accorded under the Section 12 (1) of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia Act 1999.

Date not fixed yet

Meanwhile, another commissioner Prof Mohd Hamdan Adnan when contacted said the inquiry committee is expected to be headed by commissioner KC Vohrah.

He said the meeting this morning has yet to make a decision on the date for the public inquiry.

He explained that the group of people were arrested following their refusal to be evicted from their land, which they had cultivated since 1985. In 1989, the farmers also applied for land title from the land and the survey department.

However the land was sold to a private company, Desa Highlands Sdn Bhd later.

Tensions erupted when Desa Highlands obtained an approval from the government to start developing the land. According to a report in the Sabah-based Daily Express , a riot took place at the end of May when a company representative approached the villagers to execute the writ of possession.

The report said the villagers later burnt the excavator and overturned the company's pick-up vehicle.