The Belum Sandiwara

Sandiwara means play acting. In Malaysia politicians are expert in sandiwara. Corruption and greed are two of the menace killing the environment and nature. When will they stop? Temenggor Forest Reserve is home to thousand of Plain pouched Hornbills....and this idiot just don't seem to understand the reason to gazette the forests! Tamby hoi, this PPHs need big trees to nest. Logging will make them homeless! Ada faham?

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Be reasonable with demands to gazette forests, says MB
September 20, 2011
Star

IPOH: Environmental and wildlife groups should be more objective when demanding that forested areas in the state be gazetted as non-logging areas, said Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir.

He said despite the state government having gazetted an area about five times the size of Singapore in Royal Belum as a state park, such groups were demanding more.

“Are they asking for the whole of Perak to be gazetted? After the Royal Belum, they now want us to gazette the whole of Temengor Forest Reserve.

“Later, they may also request forested areas in Pangkor to be gazetted.

“Let us be objective. Logging cannot be stopped completely because timber is one of the major industries which generate revenue for the state,” he told reporters after receiving a courtesy call from Japanese ambassador to Malaysia Shigeru Nakamura at his office here yesterday.

Dr Zambry was commenting on calls by such groups for forests along the Gerik-Jeli highway to be gazetted as part of the Royal Belum or a forest reserve to ensure the long-term survival of wildlife.

He said economic progress would be hindered if the state government were to fulfil all their demands.

Dr Zambry said Perak was among the few states that had a sustainable forest management concept.

“While allowing logging activities, we are also serious about protecting the state’s rainforests,” he stressed.

On the forest clearing activities in the Belum-Temengor wildlife corridor, Dr Zambry said he would wait for an in-depth probe to be completed first.

”We also want to know the actual situation and if the report is accurate,” he said

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September 20, 2011
‘Step up Belum enforcement’
By ISABELLE LAI
Star

PETALING JAYA: Intensified enforcement is needed to prevent poachers from encroaching into the Royal Belum State Park, said wildlife protection groups.

This is necessary following the clearing of a logging road in the major wildlife corridor.

The groups called for coordinated patrols to be heightened.

WWF-Malaysia executive director and chief executive officer Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said the logging road in the Sungai Mendelum area was easily accessible from the Gerik-Jeli highway.

He said the organisation had previously raised the alarm on poaching snares discovered in state land forests in the Belum-Temengor Forest Complex (BTFC) a month ago.

“The wire snares were camouflaged so well that a team assistant’s foot got caught,” he said in a statement yesterday, adding that a camera-trap placed in the area had captured a photo of possible poachers.

Another camera-trap had captured a photo of a Malayan sun bear, which was missing one foot.

The injury was consistent with an animal who lost a limb while trying to free itself from a snare, he said.

The field team also heard three gunshots from a distance while they were in the area.

Malaysian Nature Society president Prof Dr Maketab Mohamed said illegal hunting and poaching were rampant in the area.

He said gazetting the entire BTFC was the only way to “truly protect” the area from illegal clearing and wildlife poaching.

“We should protect our natural heritage,” said Prof Maketab.

Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir earlier ordered a stop to all alleged land clearing activities in the Sungai Mendelum area pending a probe into the matter.

Environmentalists have called for a permanent halt to development plans as the area is frequently used by wildlife to cross from Royal Belum to the Temengor Forest Reserve.

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September 21, 2011
Strong case for Lower Belum and Temengor conservation
The Star Says


PERAK is extremely proud of the fact that it had in 2003 set aside 117,500ha of forest north of the East-West Highway as the Royal Belum State Park.

However, to the dismay of conservationists, the park excluded forests south of the highway, the Lower Belum and Temengor Forest Reserves, which both remain as “production forest reserve” destined for logging.

Also left out is the 1,820m width of state land on either side of the East-West Highway.

Plans to develop this state land are many.

They range from commercial crops and vegetable agriculture to orang asli farming schemes and construction of university campuses and research centres.

Scientists say leaving the forest reserves and state land unprotected is a mistake for they are important wild habitats too.

Royal Belum is just over a quarter of the 4,343sq km that make up Taman Negara and, on its own, is not sufficient for the survival of large mammals such as the elephant, rhinoceros and tiger.

It needs to be backed up by Lower Belum and Temengor.

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan) even wants the adjacent Gerik and Lepang Nenering Forest Reserves to be added to the state park.

Collectively, these will create a sprawling, contiguous wild sanctuary.

Without the adjoining forests, Royal Belum is all but an island of wilderness in a sea of logged and farmed areas.

The East-West Highway has already sliced the wild area into two and obstructed animal movements. Wildlife migrating between Belum and Temengor have ended up as road kill.

And with increased human activity comes the opening of new roads which will give poachers easy access to wild areas. More and more snares and poachers' camps are being discovered in Belum-Temengor.

In the National Physical Plan, the whole of Hulu Perak is marked as a Rank 1 Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA), a ranking that disallows development, agriculture or logging.

This last large tract of forest in Perak is a final stronghold for wildlife.

It shelters 14 threatened mammals and an array of unique plants and animals. Internationally, Belum-Temengor is identified as a Tiger Conservation Landscape it is crucial for the long-term survival of the big cat.

The site has one of the world's greatest concentrations of hornbills 10 species are found here and the rare phenomenon of plain-pouched hornbills gathering by the thousands.

Temengor must not be seen only for its timber and land worth.

This is a mistake: the Malaysian Nature Society had a few years ago estimated that timber yields amount to only between RM58mil and RM250mil annually, whereas the other products and ecological services which the forest provides such as water supply, tourism, non-timber forest products, carbon sink, pharmaceuticals, flood control, fisheries and electricity generation are worth some RM1bil to RM1.2bil.

Keeping Belum-Temengor intact, therefore, seems to make sense.

Tiger saved from poachers dies of infection

October 26, 2009
Star
By MARTIN CARVALHO

MALACCA: The wounded male tiger that was rescued from a poachers snare in the Royal Belum National Park early this month died in the Malacca Zoo on Tuesday.

National Parks and Wildlife Departments deputy director-general Misleah Mohd Basir said the tiger died of infection and extreme stress after undergoing surgery to amputate its right foreleg.

“We tried our best to save it first by treating the injured foreleg followed by a subsequent amputation but infection had already spread and the tiger had suffered extreme stress,” she said after closing the World Wild Life Week event at the Malacca Zoo yesterday.

The 120kg tiger was rescued from the forest reserve on Oct 4 by Perak wildlife authorities after receiving information that the animal had been ensnared by an illegal trap.

It was given emergency treatment in Perak before being sent to the National Wildlife Rescue Centre at the Malacca Zoo the next day for surgery and follow-up treatment.

Misleah acknowledged the shortage of a veterinarian at the rescue centre but denied that it was a factor in the tiger’s death.

“The tiger was treated by veterinarians from Kuala Lumpur and was monitored by an assistant based at the centre here,” she added.

In 1987, an injured male tiger was rescued from a snare and treated at the centre here. Although it had only three limbs, the tiger, named Harimau Puchong, went on to become the best animal under the zoo’s breeding programme.

Poaching at Belum-Temengor....AGAIN!

August 27, 2009
Groups concerned over poaching at Belum-Temengor forest
Star

PETALING JAYA: Wildlife conservation organisations are concerned over the number of poaching cases at the Belum-Temengor forest in Perak.

Worldwide Fund for Nature Malaysia (WWF) and Traffic, which monitors the trading of protected species, believe that the porous border between the forest and Thailand is a reason for the activity.

The WWF’s Wildlife Protection Unit head Ahmad Zafir said the area was easily accessible via the 80km long Gerik-Jeli highway that cuts across the area.

There were five cases this year, involving Thai and Cambodian nationals who set traps in the area and smuggle protected animals out of the country, he added.

He said the latest case involved a 55-year-old man from Chiang Rai, Thailand. He was caught with scales of a pangolin and six sacks of agarwood, or gaharu, by Malaysian police two weeks ago.

“Intelligence-led investigations are needed to remove the masterminds and backers behind the scourge,” Traffic’s Chris R. Shepherd said.

WWF CEO Datuk Dr Dionysius Sharma said the Government should form a task force, comprising the army, Immigration, Customs and Perak state parks corporation, and the forestry department to stamp out poaching and cross-border encroachment.

Meanwhile, Perhilitan seized a pair of Malayan honey bear limbs during a raid at a business premises in Kemaman early in the month.

Perhilitan legal and enforcement director Saharudin Anan said: “Investigations revealed that the bear was caught at a nearby jungle and its limbs were to be used in the preparation of soup”.

In another operation on Aug 18, Perhilitan raided another business premises in Seri Kembangan and seized six night herons, three painted storks, two lesser thick-billed green pigeons, two pythons and two water monitors.

Temengor Forest Reserve

I found the smallest bat in Malaysia on the pavement in the middle of Grik town. It was a rare find. It was injured. It was probably killed by some other raptor. This jungle dweller could be escaping from the rampant logging at Temengor Forest Reserve. Note the size of the bat vs the 20 sen coin.

The Royal Belum State Park is fortunate to be gazetted as a protected area. But why is Temengor Forest Reserve which has such rich biodivisity was not given the same royal treatment? The Plain pouched Hornbills are migrating rare birds. They travel everyday from the south to the north everyday during the month of June-September. If Temengor is not protected, Royal Belum’s health as a biological hot spot will also be affected (Dr Loh, MNS). Map below showed the Royal Belum State Park in green while her stepsister - Temengor Forest Reserve has to bare all for the greedy loggers.

Orang asli are being "pushed" to the limit. With no place to hunt and no forest to gather food. They have but to open up land for agriculture. See the picture below how forest have to be chopped. Who should we blame - the orang asli or the loggers or the authority?

Look at the logs. Waiting to be transported out from Temengor Forest Reserve.

Lorries after lorries were seen extracting out the logs.

And if the orang asli were not affected...then this little frog hiding in a small dent on a barren logging trail could best sumed up the state of the environment now. Do you want to wait until the frog "fly"(if it can) out to Grik town...and suffer the same fate as the little rare bat?

Orang asli can protect ‘treasures’

Staronline
Tuesday June 3, 2008
By IVAN LOH

THE orang asli residing in the Royal Belum Forest Reserve can be a valuable ally in protecting the many ‘treasures’ of the forest.

Perak police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Zulkifli Abdullah said the indigenous community could provide information to police on any illegal logging or criminal activities that happened around the forest.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living in a strategic place in the forest reserve where many valuable products of the forest were found.

The valuable treasures, he said, provided a livelihood for the orang asli, adding that sandalwood, rattan, and the highly prized agarwood (gaharu) were well sought after,

“We do not want any unscrupulous individuals coming into the forest and taking away the local products,” he said, after visiting the Jahai tribe at the Kampung Sungai Kijar in the forest recently.

“We need to look after the orang asli as well,” he added.

DCP Zulkifli said the orang asli were living a very basic life and outsiders with bad intent could easily influence them.

He said marine police from the beat base in Banding would be making their rounds around the area and reaching out to them.

“They will be keeping in touch with them and at the same time get information on what is going on in the forest,” he said.

DCP Zulkifli, district police chiefs, and police department heads had visited the orang asli settlement with their spouses after their monthly meeting at the Belum Rainforest Resort on Banding Is-land.

The police also presented the orang asli with hampers and gifts.

Belum Shocker & Shocker Broom

Strange isn't it? - completed in 2004 and still unoccupied till Nov 2007.

Something is very fishy. Could be the Toman fish, or maybe the expensive Kelah!

An interesting opinion from The Star, Friday November 16, 2007

A familiar chain of reactions

PARDON the pun but I was appalled when I read your headline shocker “Belum shocker” (The Star, Nov 15).

Again, it shows how short our memory is when it comes to safety. Skirt the issue and remain in denial if we want, but stupidity is the order of the day.

Do we need another tragedy ala Highland Towers to knock sense into the powers-that-be? What’s the use of remedial measures when the obvious signs of imminent danger appear and with tragedy rearing its ugly head?

The statements made by various quarters in the aftermath smack of our typical Malaysian way of handling a disaster – the ACA will be called in to probe, the contractor/s responsible will be hauled up, the services of a consultant will be secured to investigate the cause of the collapse, ad nauseam.

This chain of reactions is all too familiar to us. This vicious cycle clearly haunts us, and every now and then when a tragedy of such magnitude happens, we will hear the baying for blood.
The fatal bus crash in Perak not too long ago, and the more recent ferry disaster of Pulau Tioman certainly ring loud. The sure things emerging from investigations into such tragedies are the blatant disregard for enforcement and the failure to adhere to regulations and specifications.
Next thing we know, we spend more resources to set up a panel of inquiry.
How many more Belum shockers, Highland Towers collapses, bus crashes, ferry tragedies do we need before we really do something?

I dread to think of what it entails in terms of resources to find out the cause of this collapse. One pertinent question begs to be answered – was there adequate survey and research conducted to ascertain the suitability of the site?

While we are here tightening our purses with the recent rise in price of several essential goods and bracing for further fuel and toll increases, we see RM4.5mil being swept away (again, pun intended).

We are told to live within our means while we struggle to manage our purse-strings on our retarded salaries. But, the cries from the masses are often muffled by irresponsible authorities that do not realise that a stroke of their pen could mean the end of some lives.

We can count our blessings that we suffered no casualties in Belum.
But, really, we need to go back to the drawing board, examine our own conscience and wield the proverbial stick, if necessary, to ensure no corners are cut, no regulations flouted and, in one fell swoop, weed out the corrupted.

Kudos to Selangor Mentri Besar with his latest move to ensure that under-performers are appropriately “rewarded”.

There will be dissatisfaction by some due to the social connotation of shame and humiliation, but we need not fear if we live by our conscience and do not shortchange anyone in our dealings with them.

CAROL LEI,
Kuala Lumpur.

MALAYSIA BOLEH!