PM also urged to stop the Malua-Ulu Segama logging

Saturday, July 29, 2006

Daily Express

Kota Kinabalu: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) hopes Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi will act to halt the planned logging of the Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves just as he had expressed concern for Pulau Sipadan.

Its Sabah Deputy Chairperson, Christina Liew, feels Sabah stands to lose even more in tourism from the planned logging in the two forest reserves between now and mid-2007 than from the patch of corals that a barge had scraped at Sipadan earlier.

She said the potential losses in terms of extinction of many species of Bornean wildlife such as orang-utans, sumatran rhinocerous, sun bear, pygmy elephants, tembadau, sambar deer, bearded pigs, muntjacks, clouded leopards and civets, among others, would be colossal compared with the coral damage, even though what happened at Sipadan was regrettable.

In this context, she said it was ridiculous for State Forestry Director, Sam Mannan, to claim that wildlife thrived very well in logged areas.

"Don't take Sabah people for fools. If he still insists on this theory, I can show him a copy of the findings of a study conducted by environmentalists in the world.

"Don't bully the orang-utans just because they can't speak up and are defenceless," she said, adding that the decision-makers involved must be made accountable for their actions, even after they have left the scene. The Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves are seen as the last strongholds for about 5,000 wild orang-utans on Borneo.

The Forestry Deaprtment had earlier assured that the logging would be according to sustainable methods.

Liew was commenting on Abdullah's concern for Sabah's environment, particularly the construction activities on Sipadan. Welcoming Abdullah's call to Malaysians to learn to appreciate the environment "as it was a gift from God", Liew said it was time for Malaysians to develop greater respect and reverence for the natural legacy that God had bestowed on us.

"And this respect should not only remain in words alone but translated into action," she said in a statement.

While acknowledging that preservation and eco-tourism are popular catchphrases these days, she said it is, however, useless when efforts at conservation are compromised by arbitrary decisions "that would result in the destruction of the very elements we seek to preserve."

Liew stressed that it is time for the relevant Sabah departments and agencies to take concrete steps towards conserving the environment "if we are truly serious about preserving our environment for the future generations." She said Sipadan, Mt Kinabalu, the Maliau Basin and Danum Valley, to name a few, are all Sabah treasures beyond price.

"However, these treasures cannot survive any mistakes made through unwise decisions on the part of the administration involved. What has happened to Sipadan and Mt Kinabalu where the construction of another RM5 million resthouse project had been abandoned at 9,000ft are not only tragic mistakes but crimes against nature."

To prevent further tragedy, she said, the Government should call off the logging in the Malua and Ulu Segama forest reserves.

"When the areas are ravaged, there will be nothing left for the orang-utans."

On July 16, the Star daily broke the news when it reported that the State-owned Yayasan Sabah Group had contracted companies for new logging operations to start in a month or two.