The Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) is turning up the heat on diehard poachers, mostly foreigners, who appears to have constructed their own network of “mouse trails” which criss-cross the jungles deep in northern Borneo.

sabah forest trees kinabatangan meliau reserve 240509 03

SFD director Sam Mannan refuses to divulge too many details about his department’s latest round of the continuing war against poachers.

“The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on security matters is best kept confidential,” said Mannan.

“The SOP has always been there. It has now been revamped and upgraded for better security and to restore public confidence in the SFD.”

However, he was willing to disclose that the SFD has deployed more field staff at Forest Checking Stations (FCS) sited at vulnerable points of entry. It is not known how many FCS have been set up.

Besides, paramilitary police – Pasukan Gerakan Am or General Operations Forces – have been stationed on a permanent basis at base camps in the jungle.

The SFD has also employed their own armed security personnel at the base camps and is planning on arming its own field staff. The paramilitary police will accompany SFD staff on patrol duty in the forest reserve areas.

Poachers attack SFD staff

Mannan explained that the stepped up security measures follows a series of recent attacks on SFD staff by poachers.

In a recent incident, he said that about 20 armed men brazenly attacked the SFD base camp in the Ulu Malua Forest Reserve, some 45 km from the Lahad Datu-Kunak Highway.

sabah forest trees kinabatangan meliau reserve 240509 06 The attack lasted about an hour and the intruders damaged SFD vehicles before carting away food from the workers quarters and several motorcycles.

They were armed with machetes, samurai swords, brass knuckles, commando knives and hockey sticks.

The police could not be contacted in time as the telecommunications system had broken down in Ulu Segama.

Mannan added the incident was not the first of its kind but perhaps the worst. The last known assault of this nature was in 1954 during which the District Forestry Officer of Lahad Datu was killed by foreign pirates in Semporna while on duty.

The latest incident appears to be a culmination of earlier skirmishes with poachers in Ulu Segama that included intimidation and threatening of Yayasan Sabah, WWF Malaysia and SFD staff in the field with weapons.

Mannan denied widespread public speculation that a SFD staff was lying in coma at the hospital following the attack.

Poachers killing leopards, deer and elephants

“The staff member, Indra Sunjoto, recovered consciousness after a while. He suffered a cut on his head which required stitches and specialist medical treatment,” explained Mannan.

“He went through a thorough medical examination and no other serious injuries were found. Apart from shock and the gash on his head, he’s okay. This is a miracle.”

sabah forest trees kinabatangan meliau reserve 240509 04 “Other staff members who tried to help Indra were threatened with bodily harm by the intruders. We are shocked and angry that the poachers would resort to such extreme and violent means.”

Sunjoto was reportedly dragged, slashed and beaten repeatedly before he collapsed.

The SFD staff members had stumbled on more than ten endangered species targeted by the poachers. They included clouded leopards, deer and elephants.

It is believed that the intruders are those who have habitually entered the Ulu Segama Forest Reserve, including the INFRAPRO Forest Restoration area, to carry out poaching of wild animals.

SFD records show that not only deer are hunted, but other wildlife, including protected species are shot at random.

The SFD is not shrugging off the latest incident as an isolated case as it appears to have been planned for maximum damage.

Also, the future of the state’s collaborative programmes with international NGOs and other entities in the area are at stake if incidences of poaching and assaults continue.

Illegal hunting a threat to eco-tourism

These projects include: the Yayasan Sabah Research Programme with the Royal Society of the United Kingdom at Danum Valley, the FACE Foundation Forest Restoration Project at Ulu Segama with the FACE Foundation of The Netherlands, the WWF Forest Restoration Programmes in the Northern Ulu Segama area and the recently-launched Malua Bio-Bank Project at the Malua Forest Reserve.

sabah forest trees kinabatangan meliau reserve 240509 01 The eco-tourism facilities owned by Yayasan Sabah and Borneo Rainforest Lodge are also expected to be badly affected by illegal hunting and in the process jeopardise eco-tourism.

Mannan said: “The actions of a few irresponsible elements may potentially jeopardise the long-term reputation of Sabah as a safe haven for eco-tourism, ecological and scientific research projects, coupled with forest restoration on an international scale.”

SFD and WWF Malaysia are currently restoring 460 hectares of Northern Ulu Segama in the Ulu Segama-Malua sustainable forest management area.

The project is being underwritten by a RM2.02 million grant from the Adessium Foundation of the Netherlands. The overall plan is to restore 2,147 hectares. Earlier 116 hectares was restored by the SFD and WWF Malaysia with financial aid from Marks and Spencer of the United Kingdom.

At the same time, the SFD is also investigating various locals who are believed to be the conduits and financiers of illegal operations in the forest reserve areas using illegal immigrants.

Locals the brains behind illegal activities?

“The SFD is very alarmed that the majority of illegal activities in the forest reserve areas are carried out by illegal immigrants, mostly organised by locals who remain in the background and invisible,” said Mannan.

sabah forest trees kinabatangan meliau reserve 240509 05 “Such activities have occurred not only in coastal mangrove areas but also in the interior, in Sook, where the illegals are the hired hands of local personalities to plunder state forest assets and lands.”

Late last year, the SFD had jointly carried out an operation – Operasi Tangar – with the Kudat and Sandakan marine police against illegal immigrants from the southern Philippines suspected of illegally debarking mangrove trees within the forest reserves in Sugut, Paitan and Jambongan in the districts of Pitas and Beluran.

The locations are close to the international water boundary which is largely unmarked.

The Trans Pegalan area near Keningau in the Interior Division (Pedalaman) is said to be another area of particular concern. The area consists of 21 villages located within 15 km and 25 km of each other.

The SFD has received reports from Kampung Panagatan Ulu that “Trans Pegalan has become a safe haven for illegal immigrants in the last ten years”.

“The illegal immigrants harvest the forest resources as well as the crops planted by the local people,” said the Kampung Panagatan Ulu Rukun Tetangga (Home Guards) chairman Mohd Khairy Abdullah when contacted.

“The area has been spared raids by the authorities so far because local community leaders did not report the presence of the illegals. This has encouraged even more illegals to flood the area.”

Sabah is also said to be losing an untold fortune in wild gaharu, an invaluable resin, to the foreign poachers because local villagers are in cahoots with them. These poachers pay a pittance to local villagers to collect the resin which they then take across the border for processing and export.

“The villagers do not understand that they are taking part in an illegal trade but at the same time they have nowhere else to sell whatever they collect from the jungles,” explained Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) general manager Jhuvarri Majid.