He said from the survey of the authorities, there were some who had landed good jobs here earning between RM3,000 and RM4,000, but they build homes on other people’s land thereby aggravating the already serious squatter problem in town.

“In the study so far, there are some cases showing these workers bringing their families and squatting on other peoples’ land. When they are asked to move, they start making demands, asking the government to give them land and houses as compensations.”

He said from the survey there were also some who were driving good cars after they had landed good jobs, but were also squatting on other people’s land, including those of mixed zones identified for development.

“With such an inconsiderate attitude, these squatters have aggravated the squatter problem in Bintulu. The government is concerned with this, as there are over 2,000 squatter houses around town.

“If all of them demand the government to give them land and houses, this will be a problem that will never get solved.”

Tiong, who is also a Justice of the Peace, said the government had worked hard to improve the living standard of the people and to bring them out of poverty.

“Such help should not be abused.”

He said the Land Code governs the use of land, and the people must abide by it.
“I have stressed numerous times that we must all be law-abiding; that the laws of Malaysia are equal for all and no one is above it.”

Tiong made this statement yesterday when commenting on a group of squatters who claimed in a Chinese daily that they had looked for him (Tiong) thrice, requesting him to help them out with their squatting problem at Jalan Iskandar.

In his reply, Tiong said his service centre here had studied their request and explained to them that they were squatting on land belonging to other people.

“They have come to my centre twice. The situation has been explained to them in both occasions. The third time they came was on a Saturday and my service centre was not open.”

He said the affected land owner, in showing goodwill towards these squatters, had volunteered to provide transport for them to move.

“I understand that negotiations have been going on between them and the land owner, and the squatters still refuse to move. I am calling on all the residents in Sarawak to respect and abide by our Land Code. 

This is a law that provides a system over the use of land. The authorities concerned will look at such problems seriously and they will act accordingly to ensure that the system on land use is being abided by.”