THE election campaign of Barisan Nasional candidate for Puncak Borneo, Jeannoth Sinel, has gone awry.

Sinel, one of BN’s 15 new faces in GE14, is dogged by the accusation he stole a portion of the communal land for which he was tasked to perform a perimeter survey when he was a land and survey department officer.

His accusers are the villagers of Kg Ma’ang, Kg Stabut, and Kg Chupak.

Sinel allegedly registered the land in his relatives’ names.

Sinel, who is from Kg Gayu, said he bought the land, but communal land is not for sale.

At a media conference at the PKR office in Maong bazaar, representatives of the “thousands” of residents of the three villages asked Sinei to explain how he managed to buy communal land as well as proof of the purchase. They also asked to whom did he pay the money for the land.

“If he had bought the land like he claimed, why did he not dispute Dawos’ statement in a letter to the director of the Land and Survey Department to cancel the grant to the land?” the villagers’ legal counsel Francis Teron and the Pakatan Harapan candidate for Puncak Borneo, Willie Mongin, asked.

James Dawos Mamit is the former deputy minister of energy, green technology and water and the four-term incumbent of the Bidayuh-majority seat in Padawan, an outskirt of Kuching.

In an official letter dated February 5, 2015, Dawos had also named Sinel in the alleged land grab.

The land in dispute is about 40 hectares, said the villager’s representatives.

“PKR takes this allegation very seriously,” Sarawak PKR deputy election director Baharuddin Mohsen said.

“We question why BN has named a candidate linked to questionable dealings and whose background is suspect.”

The constituency has 46, 265 voters, less than 2,000 of which are from the three villages.

Sinel, of Parti Pesaka Bumiutera Bersatu (PBB), is in a three-way fight with Mongin and Star’s Buln Ribos. – May 3, 2018.