It was a compromise - meeting half way the people's wishes on the relocation of squatters.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman announced yesterday that the state government will do just that to meet the request of Kadazan villagers in Kampung Maang, Penampang by relocating only half of the more than 2,000 squatters from Sri Tanjung near Kota Kinabalu International Airport to their area.

The rest of the squatters will be relocated to a different site which has yet to be identified, he told reporters after chairing a state cabinet meeting. He said the decision was a unanimous one.

At the press conference Musa was flanked on his right by Deputy Chief Minister and PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan and on his left by another deputy chief minister and LDP president Chong Kah Kiat.

But the chief minister's formula did not go down well with opposition leaders in the state.

PKR's Christina Liew labelled the decision as a 'trick'. She told malaysiakini the government is merely buying time because of the urgency to get work started on the KK airport expansion project.

'Half-baked' decision

The project has been awarded in two parts to Global Upline Sdn Bhd, a company controlled by Sarawak businessman Ting Pek Khiing and a Kuala Lumpur-based listed company Bina Puri's subsidiary for a total of RM850 million. There is a provision for another RM400 million to cover reclamation works from the sea, bringing the total project cost to around RM1.2 billion.

Liew said inspite of Musa's announcement, there is no guarantee that the rest of the squatters will not be relocated to the same site near Kampung Maang.

A leading local activist Patrick Sindu, when contacted, described the cabinet's decision as 'half-baked' that cannot exactly be palatable (to the locals).

"It's a piece-meal decision that will get us no where near finding the solution to squatter and illegal immigrant problems in Sabah," he said.

He added that there have been many examples of what the government has been trying to do in recent years to relocate squatters to other parts of the state.

"What is the result? In one example, they still go back to Pualau Gaya".

He also disputed the figures quoted by the chief minister on the number of squatters in Sri Tanjung. According to Sindu, the squatter colony has 2000 homes and each one has an average of four or five people.

"There are 10,000 people all in all there. Even then you relocate 1,000 of them near Kampung Maang and in five or ten years the number will increase to a few thousands more."

Local squatters

Locals claim half of the squatters are foreigners or illegal immigrants, but Musa disputed this, saying that the majority of Sri Tanjung squatters are Malaysians from the Bajau, Kadazandusun, Bisaya, Suluk and Bugis communities.

Penampang Farmers Association chief Fred Moosom was today quoted in local papers as saying that the government should give priority to local squatters over the Sri Tanjung squatters in the resettlement exercise.

He also wanted to know whether the government planned to give the squatters plots of land or build houses or flats for them.

In the last few days the residents from eight villages in Penampang have been protesting against the government's decision to relocate the Sri Tanjung squatters near Kampung Maang.

They plan to hold a peaceful gathering near the site on Saturday to let their feelings known to the government.