Felda settlers in bauxite deal told to sue

MB says state can't bring criminal charges if they made deals with miners

KUANTAN: Oil palm cultivators at the Bukit Goh Felda Scheme near here cannot expect state government help if they feel cheated after having allowed bauxite miners to extract the mineral from from their land.

Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob said the Felda settlers would have to file civil suits themselves against the miners because the state government was unable to press criminal charges if the settlers had entered into deals with the miners.

“The (state) government cannot help them. If they have been cheated they can sue the other party, but it is not easy,” he said on Friday.

Miners had reportedly offered between RM50,000 and RM100,000 in cash to Felda settlers to allow the miners extract bauxite from land now under oil palm.

Adnan said the Felda settlers should not be blinded by the money offered by the miners. “Once the land is cleared, there will be no more oil palm. How are they going to survive? It was brought to my attention that some of the bauxite contractors enticed the settlers to sign (give permission) away their land to the contractors. They (settlers) always look for short-term, not long-term gain,” he said.

He also expressed sadness over the state of the Bukit Goh oil palm plantation which he described as being no more like Felda land due to the bauxite mining.

It had been reported that 71 settlers in Bukit Goh who had allowed their land to be mined for bauxite were claiming that they had been cheated in the deal.

Some of these settlers had received a notice from the Land and Mines Office stating that they had committed an offence by mining without a licence or not having mortgaged their land legally under the Mineral Enactment 2001.

They claimed that they faced the possibility of being fined up to RM500,000 or sentenced to a maximum jail term of 10 years, or both, upon conviction.

- BERNAMA