The owner of land with a registered title holds legitimate rights, overriding unrecognized claims of prior transactions due to lack of legal standing.

[1] By a Writ of Summons endorsed with an amended statement of claim dated 4 October 2017, the Plaintiff claims against the Defendant, inter-alia, as follows:

a) For an Injunction to restrain the Defendant by himself, his servants, agents or otherwise and to prevent them from entering and wrongfully harvesting the oil palm in the land situated at Kalumpang A in the district of Tawau, Sabah and identified in Native title No 103039827, Lot 28 ("said Land"); and

b) For possession of the said Land;

[2] By the Defendant's counterclaim against the Plaintiff, the Defendant prays for quiet possession of the said Land and an order for the Plaintiff to return the ownership of the said Land to the administrator of the deceased for the re-trial of the administration and distribution of the estate by the Syariah Court.

[3] During the case management, the learned counsel for the Plaintiff made an oral application for this matter to be tried under O 14A of the Rules of 2012 which was agreed upon by the learned counsel for the Defendant based on the following questions of law:

Question 1

Whether the Defendant is allowed to deal with the said Land which has the Native Title in view of his race as a Bugis.

Question 2

Whether the purported agreement entered into between the Defendant and the deceased is valid taking into account that the said Land is still in the land application stage at that point in time.

Question 3

Whether the Plaintiff has the legal ownership to the said Land in view of the fact that she is the registered owner of the issued document of title.

The Indisputable Facts

[4] From the Statement of Agreed Facts (Enclosure No 17), the deceased sold the said Land to the Defendant on 26 June 1989 at a purchase price of RM1,900.00.

[5] The deceased also sold to the Plaintiff the same piece of land to the Plaintiff at a later date on the 15 December 1998.

[6] It is pertinent to note that both the above lands transactions were executed at the time when the said Land was still at the land application stage.

[7] The document of title for the said land was finally issued on 11 May 1999 (pp 3-7 of the Common bundle of Documents).

[8] The Plaintiff is the current registered owner of the said Land.

Question 1

Whether The Defendant Is Allowed To Deal With The Said Land Which Has The Native Title In View Of His Race As A Bugis

[9] My answer to the first question is in the negative.

[10] It is clear to me that the Defendant has failed to produce an appropriate declaration made by a Native Court under s 2(3) of the Interpretation (Definition of Native) Ordinance Sabah Cap 64 to confirm his claim of being a native. In the absence of the appropriate declaration, the Defendant's self-claim to be a native shall not be valid (Masbaka Hj Hassan & Ors v. The Government of Malaysia & Ors; Madlis Azid v. Board of Officers & Ors, [2015] 5 MLJ 844).

[11] As the Defendant is a non-native, he is, therefore, not entitled to have any dealing in the said Land held by native under the native title pursuant to ss 17(1) and 64(1) of the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap 68) (" SLO ").

[12] On the other hand, I recognize the status of the Plaintiff as native by virtue of the notice issued by the Mahkamah Anak Negeri on the 3 February 1975 confirming the same (p 41 of encl 36).