Illegals endanger water catchments, warns Sabah Forestry

The Sabah Forestry Department (SFD) has taken the unusual step of warning the public that it’s facing an uphill battle against the role of illegal immigrants in forest destruction activities, threats to water catchments and mainly, illegally planted oil palm.

This was because of past abuses by successive administrations, it added.

The SFD was responding to public criticism against it in the wake of ongoing enforcement measures in the Ulu Kalumpang Forest Reserve.

“The role of illegal immigrants in forest destruction activities cannot be underestimated,” said SFD Director Sam Mannan.

“The majority of the 732 arrested during a recent three-year period were illegal immigrants. The present drought in the east coast can be blamed on the destruction of water catchment areas.”

Forest lands that belong to the people of Sabah, the SFD Director stressed, cannot be hijacked by a handful of “plunderers” as their personal fiefdom.

“One may even be tempted to ask how the illegal palm oil can be sold in the market when licenses are required for sales,” said Mannan. “Monied opportunists were able to protect their interest by proxy. It is not cheap to develop hectares and hectares of oil palm.”

United front against forest destruction

    

The global image of Malaysian palm oil, Mannan pointed out, has been affected by the destruction of rainforests for oil palm estates.

Revisiting Ulu Kalumpang specifically, Mannan said his department had the backing of the chief minister, the state cabinet and the state government.

They have been briefed by the SFD on the need to address the rampant encroachment in Ulu Kalumpang.

 The department is working on reversing the excise of a big portion of Ulu Kalumpang as an endowment in the past to ‘plunderers as a reward for their illegal activities in the forest reserve’.

“We will rehabilitate and reverse the deterioration of Ulu Kalumpang, particularly in the last two months, as a vital water catchment for the people of Tawau and Kunak in particular,” said Mannan. “We are being guided by the National Forestry Policy.”

The SFD is also working on a forest management plan to help restore degraded and encroached areas within Ulu Kalumpang.

Violence against authorities

 Initial input indicates that Ulu Kalumpang is still rich in bio-diversity despite past logging and there are also Orang Utan and other wildlife in the area.

Ulu Kalumpang still remains a Sustainable Forest Management Project Area. However, conservation would be the primary objective and water resources would be protected to ensure sustainable water production.

The rehabilitation of the forest would include the development of permanent camp sites and infrastructure, according to the SFD, but the specifics on this approach remain under wraps for now, and with good reason.

There have been attacks on SFD forest camps in the past by illegal immigrants in cahoots with local syndicates who smuggle them into the state.

 Two months ago for example, one encroacher used his home-made shotgun to shoot at an excavator operator engaged by the SFD to clear illegally-planted oil palm.

Also, there have been five other incidents by encroachers in the area. It appears most of the attacks are being staged by absentee landlords employing evicted settlers.

There have also been attempts to burn Ulu Kalumpang by setting illegally planted oil palm on fire. The felled trees are in areas earmarked by the SFD for rehabilitation.

The police have, as a result, deployed full-time armed personnel in Ulu Kalumpang to assist the SFD in its rehabilitation and enforcement activities in the forest reserve.

“We have been promised substantial funding and annual allocations by both the federal and state governments and the Sabah Development Corridor,” said Mannan. For now, we have a budget of RM12.75 million.”

Thing of the past

The SFD chief vowed that the lack of political will in forest conservation and interference by politicians in Sabah was a thing of the past.

The SFD and police are not impotent now and will enforce the laws strictly, he added.

“The incompetence and poor governance in the past by the authorities and the tyranny of the few will not be allowed to prevail,” pledged Mannan.

He disclosed that the SFD once had to apologise to the police after a previous chief minister halted its operations against two main sites, Landau and Sungei Mantri.

This was after the SFD sought police protection to act against encroachment into forest reserves by illegal immigrants led mainly by Sarawakian operatives.

“We were so embarrassed when we had to pull back after the state government injunction against us to prevent us from discharging our duties,” said Mannan without disclosing the name of the errant chief minister in this particular instance.

The police, continued Mannan, were furious with the SFD because they had deployed considerable resources to move against encroachments into forest reserves. Even an apology from the SFD director himself wasn’t enough to smooth the ruffled feathers of the police.

Evicted settlers return

The abortion of the combined SFD-police operations, after due process of notice issuances and warnings, was the triumphant return of evicted settlers to their longhouses in forest reserve areas.

Had the SFD and the police not been thwarted in their enforcement activities, noted Mannan, the problem of illegal settlements in forest reserves could have been nipped in the bud.

The lack of political will previously, the SFD chief charged, allowed behind the scenes financial backers to move in along with civil servants, businessmen and others.

 Illegal immigrants were reportedly recruited in droves to accelerate the destruction of rainforests for cropping including oil palm and illegal settlements expanded and thrived.