SIMUNJAN, Nov 17, 2014: State Education Department has
begun investigating allegations that
headmaster and teachers of SK Semalatong, near here, were coerced into signing
an "agreement" by the school's Parents-Teachers' Association (PTA),
giving away the school's land to a
plantation company.
Education officers will meet Tuai Rumah Sipi anak Narang,
headman of Kampung Sungai Semabang, and Ajin anak Mumin, a villager from
Kampong Semalatong, former and current teachers of the schools and other
witnesses tomorrow morning.
The meeting will take place at the school.
Ajin accompanied Sipi to lodge a police report against
Tabung Haji Plantation Sdn Bhd on Oct 29.
Sipi had lodged a report with the Simunjan police, accusing that the school land had been taken
over by THB.
THP had already bulldozed and planted oil palm seedlings
on the land. Even the school's fenced compound was not spared.
The land was a gift from the people of Kampong Semalatong,
Kampung Isu Lama, Kampung Isu Baru, Kampung Sadia and Kampung Sungai Semabang
to the school many years ago.
The land was used to be a native customary rights land
belonging to these villages.
According to Sipi, the headmaster and the teachers were
"coerced" into signing the
agreement by the school PTA last month.
Only the religious teacher of the school did not sign the
agreement.
Sipi said the headmaster and the teachers will be in deep
trouble if it is proven that they signed the agreement, thus giving away the
school's property to THP.
"We cannot be sure whether they also received
kick-backs for signing the agreement, which to me, is wrong," he said.
He said the Education Department will know the truth
later after it has completed its investigation.
"If they indeed signed away the school's land to
THB, then they have to face the consequences," he said.
Education officers from Simunjan went immediately to the
school to see for themselves the damage done to the land after Sipi lodged his
police report.
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