Is MB Lying or Ignorant?

We know Penang sourced her water from Sg Muda. But do you know that there are many catchment areas - from Muda Dam to Baling and even Gunung Bintang (Sg Sedim). Look at the topo map here and understand the flow from different rivers to Sg Muda. After going through the map, tell me whether this MB is lying or pure ignorant!

Read the story below...

Observe the blue lines....the rivers flowing toward Sg Muda

Tuesday May 29, 2012

Kedah MB: Water catchment areas not affected by logging

JITRA: Kedah Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak on Tuesday defended the logging activities taking place in Baling forests saying water catchment areas were not affected.

He said the Kedah Forestry Department had made it a condition that the water catchment areas should not be affected in issuing logging concessions.

He told this to reporters after handing over land ownership titles to settlers of Felda Bukit Tangga here.

He was responding to allegations by Kedah Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah that the logging activities impacted water catchment areas.

Ahmad Bashah had made the claims at a press conference on Sunday.

On Friday, some 300 Umno Youth and Puteri Umno members from the Baling Umno division had staged a peaceful demonsration to protest the PAS-led Kedah's government move to allow the logging activities, claiming that waterways there had become polluted because of it.

On this, Azizan said tests carried out by the Kedah Drainage and Irrigation showed the claims were not true. - Bernama

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.

Penan’s human rights are being ignored

US human rights report shines spotlight on Penan tribe
19 April

A new US government human rights report has highlighted the Penan tribe’s battle to protect their rainforests in Sarawak, in Malaysian Borneo, from logging.

The US State Department document cites claims by indigenous rights groups that Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s government has leased the Penan’s land ‘to logging companies and land developers in exchange for political favors and money’.

Taib Mahmud has been in power for 30 years, and won state elections last week. Thousands of Penan tribespeople were unable to vote because they have not been issued with identity cards.

The US report describes accounts that ‘logging companies harassed and sometimes threatened vocal Penan leaders’ and that ‘workers from two logging companies… regularly sexually abused Penan women and girls’. A government minister has confirmed the rapes, but no action has been taken against the perpetrators.

The hunter-gatherer Penan are fighting to keep their last remaining rainforest safe from the logging companies. One Penan woman told Survival, ‘Our land and our river have been destroyed by the logging company, by the oil palm plantation. It brings hardship and suffering to our land.’

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘The State Department report adds weight to growing worldwide condemnation of the Sarawak government’s treatment of the Penan. The Penan’s human rights are being ignored, their forests destroyed, and their survival threatened.’

http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/7228

Continuing the Raping in Iban Country

Photo source here

Monday, October 18, 2010
Taib's loggers: Sebuyau Ibans prepare to form a human shield

By Christina S Suntai

My brother Numpang anak Suntai and his wife, Helen Unchat, together with 11 tribal leaders and villagers from 11 longhouses are now camping in Ulu Sebangan as we speak. Today I want to refer to their make shift camp as “Langkau Ngintu Menoa.”

They are leading the villagers to form a blockade to stop bulldozers used by illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Chairman is Tiang Ming Sing, from further penetration into their native customary lands, which include rice fields, pepper vines, fruit trees, rubber plantations and communal forest at Ulu Sebangan.

The illegal loggers, Quality Concrete Holdings, whose Executive Director is Tiang Ching Kok and major shareholder is Rodiah Binti Mahmud, sister of CM Taib Mahmud remain relentless in their efforts to grab the valuable trees. They are bulldozing their way to get to the trees and destroy everything in their path! Every tree they killed for the timber, 28 other little trees will die with it. So far the loggers continue to steal the valuable trees when no one is around to stop them. Therefore the villagers decided to set camp in the jungle to guard the forest, to ensure that the valuable trees will not be stolen by Quality Concrete Holdings.

Read more here

More story here

Thumb Up for Selangor

Logging activities to be stopped

Oct 9, 2009
Star
By SALINA KHALID

THE Selangor state government will no longer issue permits for logging on government land starting Jan 1 next year.

The blanket ruling will cover all logging activities for the inland and the mangrove forests in the state.

A source had informed The Star that the state government, in its exco meeting on July 22, had decided to stop all logging for the inland forest with immediate effect, while the ruling on the mangrove forest would be enforced on Jan 1.

It means all inland forest logging activities has stopped about two months ago while logging concessionaires holding the licence to log mangrove forest along the state’s coastal area could only do so until the end of the year.

Their licences will not be renewed upon its expiration on Dec 31.

The rule, however, does not cover the clearing of privately-owned land.

Selangor Forestry Department director Dr Yunus Zakaria said the department had not issued any new licence for logging concession this year.

He said any logging being carried out were done using the licence issued since 2006. It allows them to log until the licence expires.

He added that those concessionaires who were given the licence to log (from the previous government) were still allowed to continue until their concession expires or until their logging in the area was completed.

Asked whether they could apply to renew the licence next year, Dr Yunus said they could submit their application to them and they would forward it to the state government for approval.

“We have informed them about the expiry date of their licences,” he said.

The National Forest Council had set a quota of 1970ha of forest that could be logged for timber in Selangor.

The figure is the maximum area that could be harvested for timber every year.

However, Dr Yunus said the actual logging allowed through the licence approval was less than that of the quota by the National Forest Council.

When asked about the logging this year, he said it was much less and not even a quarter of the quoted figure allowed for harvesting.

“There are seven logging concessions for mangrove forests in Selangor,” said Dr Yunus.

“But only five of them are carrying out logging activities and sharing an area of 800ha in Pulau Ketam,” he said.

Article 74(2) of the Federal Constitution provides that land and natural resources are matters under the jurisdiction of the state governments.

It states that the state is empowered to enact laws and policies on forestry independently and a State Forestry Director is appointed to manage the administration and regulation of forest harvesting; revenue collection which includes premiums, royalties, deposits, cess and other charges, the management and development of forest resources as well as planning and coordination of the development of forest-based industry.

The states, through their respective Forestry Department, constitute permanent reserved forests and classify them for timber production and protection such as water catchment areas, wildlife reserves and bird sanctuaries, virgin jungle reserves, state parks and amenity forests.

All forest produce from these permanent reserved forests or state land remain the property of the state and all exploitation of forest produce must be licensed and administered by the state.

The state forestry directors have the power to arrest, search, seize and investigate forest-related offences, and impose fines and prosecute offenders.

In accordance with the requirement of National Forestry Act 1984, the State Forestry Departments are expected to submit annual reports to both the state authority as well as the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia.

Malaysia’s forest policy has always emphasised the balance between protection and production. Regulations are in place with regard to forest management operations, which specify in detail harvesting guidelines, codes of best practices, forest inventory and construction of forest roads.

All harvesting and related operations are carried out by licensed contractors.

These licences stipulate intensity of extraction, harvesting sequence, tree size limitations, transport routes and standard of road.

Harvesting timber, for both inland and mangrove forest, is allowed in the country, with the logging licence issued by the relevant state Forestry Departments.

The licence for harvesting the trees is granted to the concessionaires under the selective management systems to ensure the sustainability of the forest.

It advocates the selection of a cutting regime based on diameter limits and species composition of the standing trees. It means the logging is permitted to zones that have met the maturity criteria of the trees.

Meanwhile, the chopping of mangrove trees in Selangor is only allowed on those that have reached a minimum of 30cm in diameter.

With the average growth of about 0.6 to 0.8cm per annum, it will need about 10 years for mangrove trees to reach the minimum diameter before they can be harvested.

According to the Malaysian Nature Society, only 1.8% of Malaysia’s land is covered in mangroves, with over 50% of these mangroves lost between 1950 and 1985.

Forestry Department statistics show that Peninsular Malaysia had 85,000ha of mangrove forest in 2003, down from 86,497ha in 2002.

The Selangor Forestry Department statistics show that in 2008, a total of 18,088ha of the coastal area in the state is covered with mangrove forest.

Those who are felling the trees that are smaller would be fined if they are caught.

Contractors who cut immature tree can be fined a maximum of RM50,000. At the same time, those who are carrying out illegal logging in the state have to pay a heavier fines.

Under Section 15 of the National Forestry Act, 1984 (Amendment 1993) those illegal loggers can be fined up to a maximum of RM500,000 and mandatory imprisonment of one year minimum and a maximum of 20 years.

TEMENGGOR FOREST: Declare it a non-logging area

TEMENGGOR FOREST: Declare it a non-logging area

I REFER to two reports on the Temenggor forest -- "MNS: Make Temenggor off-limits to loggers" (NST, July 20) and "Perak ready to talk about forest status" (NST, July 23) -- and the ongoing debate on whether logging should be allowed in the forest.

As an ecologist who has been working in Temenggor since the 1990s, I would like to record my personal views, based on my experience working on the Temenggor Lake ecosystem and its watershed areas.

I support the Malaysian Nature Society's suggestion that the Perak government adopt the recommendation of the National Physical Policy that the Temenggor forest should be a non-logging area.

My team from Universiti Sains Malaysia can provide scientific evidence to strengthen their recommendations.

It is rather unfortunate that, unlike the Royal Belum State Park, the Temenggor Forest Reserve continues to be open to logging. It is also strange that a watershed area has been placed under Environmentally Sensitive Area Rank 11, meaning sustainable logging can be carried out.

I am a little sceptical as to whether we really understand the meaning of "sustainable".

Some of these rivers and streams in the Temenggor forest that were once believed to among the best sites for kelah (Tor tambroides) and temoleh (Probarbus jullieni) fishing have been heavily damaged.

The kelah and temoleh feeding and spawning sites are now gone.

The massive erosion from logging sites is gradually degrading these aquatic ecosystems.

The destruction is not only to the river systems but also affects the whole lake ecosystem.

I strongly feel that the Perak menteri besar is aware of this environmental catastrophe. I hope that Perak can work out a concrete management plan for the whole of the Temenggor ecosystem. This would turn Perak into a model state for environmental conservation.

MASHHOR MANSOR,

Professor,

School of Biological Sciences,

Universiti Sains Malaysia

(New Straits Times, 28 Julai 2009, Page 18, Letters to the editor)

Where is Temenggor Forest? Check here

New Penan blockades

Sad news from Sarawak. The Penan has been suffering. The last remaining forest (in that region) will be gone soon...and politicians keep raping...and raping.....no justice in sight...

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July 24, 2009 MYT 2:59:00 PM
Standoff between Penans and loggers in Borneo eases
By STEPHEN THEN

Star

MIRI: Semi-nomadic Penans and timber workers involved in tense logging disputes in two different locations in Ulu Baram in northern Sarawak have retreated from the timber-blockade flash-points on police advice.

The disputing parties did not want to aggravate tension in disputes where the usually peaceful Penans had picked up spears and parangs to prevent loggers from entering what they claim were their ancestral lands, according to Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM).

SAM field officer for Sarawak, Jok Jau Evong, told The Star Friday that according to the latest reports from deep in the interior was that the Penan protestors had laid down their arms after the timber workers at the sites agreed not to proceed with their logging operations in the disputed territories.

''The standoff has eased. The police are at the site and they have the situation under control. The timber companies have withdrawn their workers and machinery from the sites.

''The Penan protestors have also cooled down. They are still there at the vicinity of the blockade sites but they are just sitting around.

''The timber workers said they are only following directives from their company bosses. If they were instructed not to proceed, they will not go any further. For now, the tension has eased,'' he said.

Asked if this meant the timber companies had aborted their plans to carry out further logging in the forests where the Penans claimed their ancestral heritage was, Jok said he had no answer.

He said that only the companies concerned would know what they intended to do now following the dispute.

The anti-logging protests at Ba'Marong and Long Paloh, some 300kms inland from Miri, had reached boiling point.

The Penans, who claim that their forests were being ravaged by loggers, blocked access roads into the forests with logs and timber debris to prevent heavy machinery and timber trucks from entering and leaving.

They guarded the blockades armed with spears and parangs.

Baram police chief Deputy Supt Jonathan Jalin was outstation and could not comment on the dispute.

However, a check with his officers at the Marudi police station showed that policemen and General Operations Force personnel who had been deployed to the blockade sites are still there.

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July 22, 2009
New Penan blockades as anti-logging protests flare up again
By STEPHEN THEN
Star

MIRI: Anti-logging protests have flared up again in the interior jungles of northern Sarawak where the semi-nomadic Penans live.

Two incidents of timber blockades have occurred in the Ulu Baram district, one in the upper reaches near Long Lama Village, some 300km from here, and another near Long Paloh in the middle region of the district, some 100km from Marudi town.

Sources told The Star yesterday that police in Long Lama and Marudi received reports about anti-logging protests by the Penans and have visited the sites.

No arrest has been made.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) field officer for Sarawak Jok Jau Evong confirmed yesterday that his office had received information from the Penans in the two areas that blockades were erected across roads used by loggers to transport heavy machinery into the jungles and access roads used to ferry logs out of the jungles.

He said there were 40 Penans staging a protest in Ba’Marong, a Penan settlement on a tributary of Sungai Tutoh, which is three hours journey by timber road from Long Lama.

“The Penan chief there, Sagung Nyipa, said the Penans from Long Nen village are also joining in the protest,” he said.

“The other protest is in Long Paloh, upstream of Sungai Patah. There are about 30 Penan men, women and children at this blockade site.

The protest in Ba’Marong is against logging operations being carried out by a Sibu-based timber consortium while the one in Long Paloh is against a Miri-based timber giant.

The protests have been peaceful.

The two private companies are also involved in property construction, road construction, oil palm projects and heavy industrial projects throughout Sarawak.

“The Penan chiefs told us that they have no choice but to resort to the blockades to stop the logging,” Jok said.

This is because their land rights have been violated and their daily source of food and water have also been destroyed.

He added that the forest reserves in Long Paloh are the last remaining forests for the Penans in that region.

They are logging three times more land than is needed.

They are doing it again. Big money for their own pockets. Disregarding nature but for personal gains. Trengganu is oil-rich and they don't need the logging money. Trengganu has Kenyir Dam and the largest in Peninsular Malaysia with enough electricity to export to other states. Why built more dams? The answer - because of timber, stupid!

Shame to Malaysians. It takes a foreign group to call for petition. Lets help do our part.

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/508876624

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Dear Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib,

I am alarmed by the proceedings of the hydroelectric project in Terengganu, which involve logging three times more forest than is needed. This project will dam the Sungai Terengganu Mati and Sungai Tembat rivers, creating two reservoirs, which will flood 6130ha of forest reserves. However, the state government plans to log an additional 12,620ha surrounding this area.

This logging is completely unnecessary and as the valuable forest disappears, so will many species that inhabit the area, such as the endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and the Malayan tiger. There are also 94 species of plants and animals in the forest that the International Union for Conservation of Nature has deemed Red Listed as threatened by extinction.

Although a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) on the project predicts that logging will have a high impact on the wildlife, logging has begun illegally, prior to the approval of the DEIA. I urge you to protect the wildlife and stop the unnecessary and unlawful logging of this high-value forest in the Terengganu region.

[Your comments here]

Thank you for helping to save these forests.


Sincerely,
[Your name here]

Logging, land clearing caused mass fish deaths in S'wak

Feb 20, 2009
Star
Logging, land clearing caused mass fish deaths in S'wak
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: The unusual mass deaths of fish in Sarawak inland rivers recently was caused by suffocation due to siltation triggered by logging, plantations and land-clearing projects, according to the Ministry of Environment and Public Health.

Investigations found that certain developers had taken advantage of loopholes in environmental assessment laws to carry out their projects without having to go through scrutiny by his ministry, said Assistant Minister Dr Abang Abdul Rauf Abang Zen said on Friday.

In very frank press conference here, Dr Rauf said the blame for the "fishy" phenomenon lay squarely with these development companies.

Over the past two months, tonnes of fishes from inland river tributaries in several parts of Sarawak had suddenly died en-masse. This phenomenon was seen in Bakun, Mukah, Kapit, Marudi and even in the Baram River near Miri.

The worst-hit river was the Balui River in Bakun, the site of the RM6 billion hydro-electric dam project in central Sarawak.

Dr Rauf said on Friday that he and the enforcement officers from the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board had gone personally to investigate the dead fish cases.

"We carried out investigations from helicopters and on the ground and had carried out tests on water-samples and on the dead fish.

"It was found that the fishes died because of suffocation. For example in Bakun, there was a very high degree of suspended solids in the rivers in Belaga, Balui and Baleh - six to 20 times the normal level.

This was caused by logging and land-clearing in the upstream of the Bakun hydro dam. The death of the fishes was not due to the dam construction itself," he said.

Dr Rauf said his ministry found that some giant timber companies had by-passed Environmental Impact Assessment requirements by splitting their projects into very small packages.

Under the state EIA law, any development project measuring 500 hectares and above must be subjected to EIA.

"These companies split their projects into small packages in order to escape the EIA. For example, some companies with licence to open 10,000 hectares of land had split their project into small ones measuring 499 hectares each.

"By doing this, they escape the need to carry out EIA. This happened in the upstream of Bakun. That is why these projects had caused excessive siltation and killed a lot of fish. These fish were washed down by the rivers during the floods," he explained.

Dr Rauf said his ministry will hold a meeting with members of the Sarawak Timber Association early next month to find a way for them to cooperate to stop the environmental degradation.

He said the state government wants to balance the need for land development with the need to protect and conserve the environment and its natural resources because interior folks depended on these natural assets for their daily survival.

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Sunday February 22, 2009

Star
Bakun area overlogged, says SAM

MIRI: The Bakun hydro-electric dam catchment area has been overlogged by more than 40,000ha, an environmental group said.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said the original catchment area for the Bakun project in central Sarawak, as stipulated in the first environmental impact assessment report, was supposed to be 64,000ha.

However, more than 100,000ha have already been logged, said SAM field officer for Sarawak Jok Jau Evong, adding that ground studies in Bakun showed that forests outside the original catchment area had been subjected to intensive logging.

“It seems that the logging is being carried out all the way from Bakun to the forested areas earmarked for clearing under the proposed Murum Dam project.

“A large portion of the forest within the Murum Dam area has already been logged,” he told The Star yesterday.

He said the whole area from Bakun to Murum would eventually be cleared of all timber.

“SAM is worried that the ecosystem will suffer even greater damage because of the massive land clearing,” he said.

Evong was commenting on Assistant State Environment and Public Health Minister Dr Abang Rauf Abang Zen’s statement that tonnes of fish in Bakun had died recently due to excessive siltation in the Bakun catchment area.

He said this practice had caused serious siltation in the river systems in Bakun and had contributed to the suffocation of a large number of fishes.

Under Sarawak’s Natural Resour­ces and Environment Board laws, any land development project measuring 500ha and above must be subjected to EIA scrutiny and approval.

Evong said the authorities must monitor all land development projects regardless of the size because all of them contribute to destruction of the environment, riverine resources and wildlife.
Dr Rauf, when asked yesterday how big an area had been logged in the Bakun catchment region, replied that he did not have the exact figure.

Monkey tales at the Johor state assembly

At a meeting been a YB and a chief monkey somewhere down below.

YB Parit Yaani (YB) : Chief Monkey, why do you harass our kampungs everyday?
Chief Monkey(CM) : Because economy bad. People are not feeding us anymore. It is difficult to find food in the jungle......
YB: Why difficult to find food in the jungle?
CM: You don't know meh? Didn't you see the timber trucks plying the road? They are logging and killing our food source so where got food left...
YB: Why don't you find other forest?
CM: But why? In the first place, we were taken here from Penang many years ago....and now you want us to move again?

Note: Monkeys "exported" from Penang have been a nuisance to many states all over Malaysia. Human blamed the monkeys. And monkeys blamed human. So who exactly to be blamed? Anyway it will be interesting to see politician negotiating with monkeys. Politician can talk monkey language now......another Malaysia Boleh! Read story below:-

November 24, 2008
Staronline
By MEERA VIJAYAN

JOHOR BARU: The Johor state assembly went into fits of laughter Monday as Ng See Tiong (BN-Parit Yaani) spoke at length about a monkey menace in his constituency.

Ng complained that thousands of “very smart” monkeys were harassing kampung (village) folk in Seri Mengkal, Parit Ismail and Kampung Baru Mukim 7.

“Some of these monkeys even break into houses, raid fridges and steal food,” he said, sending the assembly into roars of laughter.

He said at least 200-300 monkeys would surround their “targeted” house, with the “taiko” (big brother) monkey entering the house first followed by its supporters.

“The monkeys even steal chicken eggs, biscuits, and take milk from babies,” he said, adding that the problem had gotten worse over time as initially the monkeys only stole fruits and vegetables from plantations.

Ng, who was debating the state Budget, said that hundreds of families had their livelihoods affected as monkeys were “harvesting” their plantations on their behalf by eating the fruits.

He pointed out that the Wildlife Department (Perhilitan) had tried to shoot the monkeys, but had only managed to hit one or two of them as most of the primates escaped back into the jungle.

When Ng urged Perhilitan to come up with more effective solutions to overcome the problem, Speaker Datuk Ali Hassan interrupted to ask how Ng proposed to settle the problem.

“After this, I’m going to meet with the chief monkey to have a discussion,” he quipped, sending the assembly into another round of laughter.

When contacted after the assembly, Ng admitted that among the reasons for the monkey menace was because their natural habitat had been depleted from logging.

Logging 'threatens Terengganu's endangered rhinos'

Yesterday was Perak. Today is Trengganu.

A mature timber tree is worth a minimum of RM10K (US$3.3K). No wonder you find every state Government is going for the kill. It doesn't matter about wildlife, water resources or even livelihood of people living on the fringes of the forest. Chop the trees - for the $. Nevermind about extinction of rare wildlife, polluted water, animal-human conflicts....afterall, the people who approved the project could be rewarded by "commission". This is the fact - the greedy fact. A norm.

It has always been a ploy to build a highway. Then, the timber. I was right when I sensed that the road from Gua Musang to Kenyir Dam has to do with timber. And it was so true now. Development and infrastructes are all bullshit. Timbers & logging are the main objective.

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Malaysiakini
Nov 12, 08 6:34pm

Terengganu government is planning to log two forest reserves which is home to the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros and endangered Malayan tiger.

The proposed logging was revealed in a detailed environmental impact assessment (DEIA), which was recently made available for public viewing.

The DEIA, which is done by an independent agency, is the process of examining the environmental effects of the proposed plan to log of the forests.

Source: Malaysiakini

The study revealed that the state government has proposed to log 12,630 hectares of forest adjacent to the 6,130 hectares of forest reserve currently being cleared for the construction of two hydropower dams.

“The Tembat and Petuang Forest Reserves, which also act as a water catchment area for Tasik Kenyir, are currently being logged to build the Puah and Tembat dams,” said conservation group World Wildlife Fund in a press statement today.

It said that a survey conducted as part of the DEIA has revealed evidence of the presence of the elusive Sumatran rhinoceros within the Tembat Forest Reserve.

“Both the forest reserves are also habitat for other endangered wildlife, namely the Malayan tiger and Malayan tapir which are totally protected animals under the Protection of Wildlife Act 1972.”

The environmental impact assessment also exposed a shocking fact - that logging has already begun in the forest reserves despite that no approval has been given.

“Satellite images in the DEIA indicate that clear felling of the reservoir area and adjacent hills has begun since 2005-2006.

“According to the DEIA, the site of the catchment area has already experienced changes of between 25 and 30 percent and new logging tracks have already been constructed,” said WWF-Malaysia.

“There seems to be little regard for relevant laws and the DEIA process,” lamented WWF chief executive officer Dr Dionysius Sharma.

One-third of elephants to be forced out

According to the study, the logging will also affect the elephant population in the forests, where about one-third will be forced into nearby plantations, creating more human-elephant conflict.

“This will result in loss of revenue to plantation owners and property damages. In the long run, the government will incur higher cost for human-wildlife conflict management,” said Dionysius.

The DEIA also states that the high soil erosion and sedimentation as a result of the logging will affect fish biodiversity and spawning grounds.

“The Kelah fish population found in rivers there will undeniably decrease. Kelah has high conservation and commercial values,” said the WWF chief executive.

Dionysius also added that eco-tourism activities will be affected, translating to loss of revenue to the eco-tourism operators in the area.

The WWF has called on the state government to protect the two forest reserves by classifying them as wildlife sanctuaries under the National Forestry Act 1984 and gazetting them as water catchment forests.

“Logging or clear felling should not be allowed to take place at any time,” he said.

Concern over logging plan

Just when the dust has just settled, another appeared. This time logging in Perak. Another environment concern to people of Perak. Wake up dear Pakatan Government of Perak!

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Concern over logging plan
Tuesday November 11, 2008
By IVAN LOH
Staronline

IPOH: The Perak Environment Asso­ciation has opposed the selection of two forest reserves which were re­­cently opened for tender for logging.

Association president Abdul Rah­man Said Alli said logging in parts of the Pondok Tanjung and Kota Siam forest reserves would have dire consequences to the ecosystem.

According to a notice put up at the state Forestry Department, the two forest reserves were among 28 sites selected for open tender for logging, he said.

“The Pondok Tanjung reserve is a 5,000ha wetland in the Larut Matang and Selama districts that serves as a natural water catchment area for overflowing water from the Bukit Merah reservoir.

“Logging activities will destroy the land there and worsen the flooding problem in Bukit Merah and some areas in the Kerian district,” Abdul Rahman told a press conference here yesterday.

The forest reserve was home to a wide range of protected animal and plant species and was also a popular research site for Universiti Sains Malaysia, he said.

The Kota Siam Forest Reserve in Manjung district would also see the destruction of wildlife habitat if logging were to be conducted there.

“The 300ha forest reserve is like an island surrounded by oil palm estates and other plantations.

“If the wild animals’ habitat is destroyed, they would be forced to intrude into human settlements, cau­sing conflict between them,” he said.

Abdul Rahman pointed out that the Kota Siam reserve was one of the smaller forests gazetted by the Forestry Department and that there were many other more suitable sites for logging.

“We are not against logging and have no problems with the other sites but Pondok Tanjung and Kota Siam should be off the list (of 28 sites for tender),” said Abdul Rahman.

He said the association would write to Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jama­luddin for appropriate action to be taken.

Efforts to get confirmation from the Forestry Department about the matter proved futile.

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EIA wanted on planned logging in Pondok Tanjung

Tuesday November 11, 2008
By RASLAN BAHAROM

Staronline

TAIPING: An environmental impact assessment (EIA) may be sought from the Department of Environment to protect river tributaries in Pondok Tanjung near here from indiscriminate logging activities.

Larut Matang and Selama district officer Datuk Mahmod Morsidi said this was the best option to protect these rivers -- that supply water to the Bukit Merah reservoir -- from active siltation.

He said the fear of active siltation was one of the reasons why no tin mining activities in Pondok Tanjung had been permitted.

Both logging and mining excavation permits had been sought in Pondok Tanjung, he told reporters after launching the national Coastal Rehabilitation Awareness Campaign 2008 at the Kuala Sepetang Eco-education centre near here on Tuesday.

However, following objections from various technical departments, no tin mining activities have been permitted there.

Mahmod said the Perak Government had approved about 600ha of land at three different locations in Pondok Tanjung for group agriculture schemes to provide more income to the local population.

To turn such sites into agriculture plots, trees must be felled, he said.

Mahmod said a choice would have to be made between allowing the three sites to remain as jungles, and allowing logging and converting them into agriculture schemes.

“Perhaps we may disallow jungle clearing activities at the hilly terrain there but allow logging at the lowland,” he said when commenting on an objection raised by the Perak Environment Association on Monday.

The association said that logging activities in Pondok Tanjung, a 5,000ha wetland that serves as a natural water catchment area for overflowing water from the Bukit Merah reservoir, would damage the land and worsen the flooding problem in Bukit Merah and in parts of Kerian district.

Forestry Department director-general Datuk Seri Azahar Muda, who was present at launch, said it was up to the Perak Government to act on the matter as logging activities came under its purview.

Once there is a request for an EIA, the state Forestry Department must study the matter and take into consideration the views of the community, said Azahar.

---------------------------

Ibans fight for communal forests

Tony Thien Sep 27, 08
Malaysiakini

The Iban community in Rumah Sengok, about 80km up the Kemena River in Bintulu are fighting a losing battle to protect their communal forests or pulau, considered their most valuable assets, from loggers.

And they are not the only ones having to face such a problem - the same loggers are said to be moving to other villages in the upper reaches of the river and likely to encroach into their communal forests too, Jok Jau, Marudi-based co-ordinator of Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) told Malaysiakini today.

“The loggers claim they have a permit to extract the timber and are ignoring the rights of the 26-door Sengok longhouse over their communal forests of about 300 to 400 hectares, taking away valuable timber species from the pulau,” he said.

Once they have finished work there, the loggers are expected to move to neighbouring areas to continue with timber harvesting, Jok Jau said, adding that at least 10 other Iban longhouses in the upper reaches of the Kemena River would be affected.

According him, the Ibans are not demanding for money but to preserve their rights which are recognised by law to the communal forests which supply their daily needs.

Jok Jau said a government-backed consortium Grand Perfect comprising three large local timber companies are managing and implementing a forest plantation project covering an area of more than 500,000 hectares extending from Bintulu right up to Balingian under a Forest Department licence.

Encroachment started in April

The licence was originally awarded to a pulp and paper company.

The consortium has their contractors to clear the area for the plantation and the process involves the harvesting of timber.

Rumah Sengok residents are complaining that these loggers have been encroaching into their pulau which is considered as part of what is known as native customary rights (NCR) land since April this year.

Jok Jau said the affected natives are rather helpless as their pleas have fallen on deaf ears with the loggers insisting that they have been given clearance by the authorities to clear and remove the timber.

He alluded to some threats being used against the natives as well.

In the first round of tree harvesting from the Rumah Sengok communal forests, an estimated 500 tonnes of timber - hill species such as meranti, kapor and keruing - have been taken out.

The company originally offered to pay the longhouse people RM6 per tonne of timber extracted but headman Sengok ak Sabang and his longhouse residents disagreed “because it is not money they want but the right to keep their communal forests which is important to their livelihood,” said the local SAM leader.

Present timber prices are high with growing overseas demand to increase stockpiles in log importing countries.

“I have been to Rumah Sengok and now I hear the logging company is going into other villages and this is most worrying,” Jok Jau said, adding that the state government should look into the rights of the natives over their NCR lands and communal forests.

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?

What Rainforest Festival?

Sarawak Rainforest is a Myth

The Sarawak Rainforest World Music Festival is a Sarawak government vehicle perpetuating a fairyland of a vast, ancient green cover with thriving biodiversity under the canopies.

And within the virgin forests, Sarawak natives are supposedly able to continue their traditional ways of live and play their rainforest-inspired music.

The TRUTH is, in the last quarter century, almost all the ancient forested land were not spared the chainsaw.

Commercial logging has impoverished the forest-dependent aborigines and caused UNRESOLVED land conflict with the loggers and authorities. Sadly, the natives invariably end up the losers.

Although timber resources are diminishing, greedy logging companies are not loosening their grip on the natives’ land. They are now converting the land into all sorts of plantation.

And guess what? These same perpetrators of forest crime are getting government loans to re-plant the degraded forests.

But the biggest headache is the aggressive advancement of oil palm plantation.

Millions of hectares are earmarked for oil palm expansion. Of the nearly 200 land dispute cases registered with the Sarawak High Court today, majority is related to oil palm development.

These constitute a systemic way of displacing and destroying indigenous culture celebrated by the RWMF.

RWMF is the epitomy of state hypocrisy!

Logging in Perak

Logging (Tempoh) from June 08 till Dec 08. Entrance to logging

area at 11.3 km from Grik-Kulim Highway (N5deg 29.236' E101deg 03.886')

Logs and Gunung Kenderong at the background.

Elephant dung just a kilometer from the new highway.

There was so much news on logging in Kedah (read the news below). Penangites are worry too - "Penang fears Kedah logging could jeopardise water supply" (news attached below).

But are you aware that PERAK is also going on a logging spree? How come Penang is not worry that the logging in Perak will affect Penang's water supply too?

Look at the google map and you could see that the streams and rivers from the present logging sites (the area left of Gunung Kenderong and Gunung Kerunai) in Perak empty into Sg Kupang and joining Sg Muda.

The new highway from Kulim to Grik actually cut through pristine jungle. Wildlife are abundant. On one of my camping cum exploring trip, I saw elephants' dungs and foot prints of large animals like deers, wildboars, bears and heard an unconfirm wild cat (tiger?).

This area around the two mountains (which ironically an important limestone outcrops) is also rich in biodivisity. We have seen fireflies at night and rare hornbills eating bayas fruits in the jungle. A scientific expedition could only reveal more flora and fauna in that area.

If you check the map, with the new highway (still not shown in google map yet), the area has been disected into smaller area. And I wonder whether they can sustain the wild elephants and wildlife. It will come a time when conflict of elephants and human will be seen...and that will be very soon if nothing was done to stop the logging.

Are we going to wait till our water supply jeopardised before we take any action? Is our Pakatan Government really care a hoot about our environment? or are they just like Barisan Najis?


----------News on Logging in Kedah from Staronline------------

Monday June 23, 2008
Kedah told to be alert for loggers

ALOR STAR: The state government has been told to not deal with “environmental culprits” from Sarawak who eye logging tenders in catchments.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) coordinator Mohd Nizam Mahshar claimed that logging companies in Sarawak had bad track records.

He said this in response to Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak’s announcement that the state would hold discussions with a logging company from Sarawak that knew how to carry out selective logging in catchments without causing adverse impact on the environment.

Mohd Nizam said environment groups would go all out to object to the heli-harvesting plan in the 122,000ha Ulu Muda forest reserve that housed the Ahning, Muda and Pedu dams.

“Allowing logging in the area would be a big mistake as it would have far reaching implication on food security, and water supply,” he said.

Azizan, however, has given a personal guarantee that the environment would not be affected as only the old and decaying trees would be removed.

He likened the process as “removing grey hairs.”

“We are merely rejuvenating the forest by removing old trees to make way for new ones,” he said after a ceramah at Muasasah Datul Ulum in Pokok Sena, held in memory of PAS leader Datuk Fadzil Noor who passed away six years ago.

In any case, he said the state would not proceed with the plan without approval from the relevant authorities, including the Department of Environment.

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Tuesday June 24, 2008
A folly to log in Kedah just to make ends meet


A COUPLE of years ago the nation was shocked with the image of Lojing in Kelantan; mighty trees and greens of thousands of years fell from the greed of men. After some finger-pointing the news trail turned cold, no one was to blame and no one was to take the responsibility.

Now the new PAS-led government, after winning another state, is reliving the past. Logging in Kedah is not a major industry.

The past state government once planned to log the Muda Reserve but the plan was scrapped over environmental concerns.

But now the same idea has re-emerged and this time by the new government.

It is true that money is needed by the state, not just Kedah, but every other state to ensure a well-run government which in turn would benefit the people. But to destroy something to achieve another is a folly.

HARITH JAMALUDIN @HH,

Sungai Petani.

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Sunday June 22, 2008
Kedah to use heli-harvesting
By SIRA HABIBU


ALOR STAR: The Kedah Government is going ahead with its plan to allow selective logging in the Ulu Muda catchment areas using the heli-harvesting technique.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak, however, assured the public that the catchment areas would still be preserved because only selective logging to remove decaying trees would be allowed.

“We will be using the heli-harvesting technique to remove the decaying old trees that are more than 100 or 200 years old.

“That means we will only be removing a few trees every hectare,” he said.

He said Kedah had no other choice as it had to cope with rising expenditure.

“We are desperate to increase the revenue to make ends meet as the Federal Government is not keeping its promise to pay RM100mil annually in compensation for sparing the catchment areas,” he said.

Azizan said this in response to objections from various quarters against the state’s plan to carry out logging activities in catchments.

Azizan said the state need not carry out selective logging in reserved forests covering 122,000ha if the Federal Government fulfilled the promise made in 2003 to pay RM100mil a year as compensation for preserving the catchment areas.

The Federal Government had paid the money once when Datuk Seri Syed Razak Syed Zain was mentri besar, he said.

On calls by Sahabat Alam Malaysia for the Penang Government to pay compensation to Kedah for preserving catchments that are crucial to ensure continuous water supply to Kedah, Azizan said they would appreciate it if Penang contributed.

“But it is not our intention to disturb Penang and Perlis that are dependent on water sources from Kedah,” he said.

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Saturday June 21, 2008
Penang fears Kedah logging could jeopardise water supply
By ANDREA FILMER and SIRA HABIBU


GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Government wants Kedah to rethink its plan to allow logging in the Muda catchment area because it could jeopardise its water supply.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state government was deeply concerned over the move as 80% of Penang raw water came from Sungai Muda.

“We believe that logging in the Muda dam catchment area will have an adverse impact on water resources and utilisation in Penang.

“At a time when our forests are dwindling, logging, especially in catchment areas, is not seen as sustainable development,” he told a press conference yesterday.

He added that the country should be focused on reducing logging, not expanding it.

“I understand that Kedah has been put in a difficult position following the Federal Government’s failure to deliver compensation. However, I feel that conducting RM16bil worth of logging is not a proportionate sentiment,” Lim added.

On Wednesday, Kedah Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak announced that the state would be calling for tenders for logging activities at the Pedu, Muda and Ahning dam catchment areas to cover high state expenditure following the petrol price hike earlier this month.

Azizan said Kedah had to resort to such a move because the Federal Government had failed to deliver annual compensations of RM100mil after the state called off heli-harvesting of timber in the catchment areas in 2003.

Lim said he had instructed Penang Water Supply Corporation General Manager Jaseni Maidinsa to write to Azizan. If necessary, Lim would see him directly.

Jaseni, who was present at the press conference, said Penangites might see the effects of the logging in the next five years if the plan went ahead.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) coordinator Mohd Nizam Mahshar said Penang should pay for the conservation of water catchments since Kedah needed at least RM650mil annually to maintain the Ulu Muda forest reserve.

“As both states are now Pakatan Rakyat states, they should help each other out,” he said.

SAM president S. M. Mohd Idris said the Government should pay a premium to any state government that took measures to protect catchment areas and the biodiversity.

He said 65,000 farming families depended on the irrigation from Ulu Muda, adding that it would have an adverse impact on the current food crisis.

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'I want to make money from God's timber gift'

NST Online

2008/06/26
By : Tan Chew Chin

ALOR STAR: Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak yesterday made light of plans to log RM16 billion in timber logging in the Ulu Muda forest reserve, saying he was missing sleep due to calls from friends on the matter.

He said his friends wanted to know what the fuss was about and that he had told them former menteri besar Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim had once said that Perlis did not have to pay for water as it was a gift from God.

"I am now saying timber is also God's gift and I want to make money from it. What's wrong with that?" he said to laughter from reporters after chairing the weekly state exco meeting at the Padang Terap District Council office near here yesterday. Referring to Kedah Umno Youth chief Md Rawi Abdul Hamid's call for a referendum on the proposed logging of an area twice the size of Singapore, he said "maybe someone just learned the word referendum". He described the call as "unnecessary", adding that referendums were normally held to change the constitution or system of government.

"This is just chopping down a few trees and you want us to hold a referendum?" he asked. Md Rawi was among several people including Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who had asked Azizan to reconsider the proposal.

Several non-governmental organisations, including Sahabat Alam Malaysia and the Malaysian Nature Society, had condemned Azizan's plan to log timber in the water basin.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia honorary secretary R. Meenakshi, who estimated about one million trees would be chopped down, had described Azizan's claim that the proposed logging would be environmentally friendly as "nonsense and untrue". Azizan said his logging plan was not new, but similar to what the former BN state government had proposed in 2002, which was rejected by the cabinet. "We are doing what the former state government was afraid to ask from the Federal Government."

State Secretary Datuk Wira Syed Unan Mashri Syed Abdullah said that the previous Federal Government had failed to honour the cabinet's agreement to pay the state government RM100 million for sparing the forest reserve.

"We have been helping the country preserve the area for clean water. If the Federal Government gives us compensation, we will preserve the forest reserve," he said.

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Lim says Kedah MB not properly advised

NST Online

2008/06/26
By : Amy Chew reporting from Jakarta

CHIEF Minister Lim Guan Eng yesterday accused the Kedah government of working with timber concessionaires from Sarawak close to the Barisan Nasional in water catchment areas in the Ulu Muda forest reserve.

He said Kedah Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak should reconsider the idea in view of the link to BN."We hope he will reconsider because he is teaming up with these timber concessions from Sarawak which are closely-linked to BN parties." He said it was ironic Azizan was doing so and that "perhaps he was not properly advised" on the matter.

"After winning power, to be working so closely with BN vested interests is something quite unexpected."

Lim said the DAP was opposed to the move as it would affect water resources in both Kedah and Penang.He was speaking to the New Straits Times in Jakarta after a presentation at the 2nd World Peace Forum yesterday.

The controversy began after Azizan urged the Federal Government to allocate RM100 million annually or face the possibility of logging in water catchment areas in the state.

He had said that the state government was losing millions in revenue because they could not log trees for timber.Azizan, who said that timber near the catchment areas was worth over RM16 billion, ran into criticism for suggesting that the Ulu Muda forest reserve be logged.

Among his fiercest critics was Lim who had said that logging in the area would lead to catastrophic effects, especially at the Muda Dam. Meanwhile, he told the forum that globalisation was a better model for world peace than geopolitics.

"Globalisation creates ideas, the ability to acquire knowledge. Geopolitics decides whether or not we go to war."

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Bar: Kedah can’t log trees near river reserve

Friday June 27, 2008 MYT 5:16:55 PM

Staronline

PETALING JAYA: The Kedah Government has no right to cut down trees near the Ulu Muda River Reserve as water catchment areas fall under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959, the Malaysian Bar Council said.

Environmental Law Sub-Committee chairman Roger Tan said that while all forest produce on state land were the property of the state government, most states had laws against polluting water catchment areas.

“The reason for this is because the management of water catchment areas will affect the quality and quantity of water,” he said in a statement.

He added that deforestation would cause irreversible ecological damage that would cause soil pollution especially near the Muda Dam.

“Deforestation hastens soil erosion which in turns affects water quality. This then results in higher cost of water treatment,” he said.

Tan added that trees were important for the protection of water catchment, carbon balance, evapo-transpiration, photosynthesis and production of wood.

“It is disappointing to learn that a state government is willing to sacrifice the environment all in the name of development,” he said.

Gerakan is also against Kedah's decision to cut down trees for profit.

“I had objected strongly against a similar move by the Kedah Government in 2002-2003,” party acting president and former Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said in a statement.

He added that he had approached then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and then Primary Industries Minister Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik to seek their assistance.

“I had stressed on the importance of the water catchment area to Kedah, Penang and Perlis to the present and future generations,” Dr Koh said.

He said this led to Kedah, which was then governed by the Barisan Nasional, to relent and drop the logging proposal.

Dr Koh urged Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to convince his PAS counterpart in Kedah to abandon the logging plan, adding that Lim should also get Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to assist him.

Politics Hurting Environment

Sad. Sad day for Kedah, a northern state in Peninsular Malaysia. When politics of hate and revenge by the AMNO will be hurting our environment. These f**kers never have the interest of Malaysia. They are the real traitors to Malaysia. We should condemn them to hell. Read the story below:

A Federation of Independent Malay States in the making
Posted by Super Admin
Thursday, 19 June 2008
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/8997/1/

Kedah approves logging activities
By EMBUN MAJID, The Star

The Kedah Government has approved logging activities at the Pedu, Muda and Ahning dam catchment areas, a move that is expected to generate about RM16 billion in revenue for the state. Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak said the move was necessary to cover the high expenditure incurred by the state following the petrol price increase.

He added that the state would call for tenders soon and award the logging contract to the highest bidder. “We will discuss the logging method to be used with the Forestry Department,” he told newsmen after chairing the state executive council meeting yesterday.

He added that the Federal Government had promised to pay an annual compensation of RM100 million in 2003 following the state’s decision to cancel its proposed heli-harvesting project to log timber in catchment areas. “However, until now the payment has not been made. We have also asked the Federal Government for financial assistance for the water supply to Penang and Perlis and for the rice we are producing for the country. Since the Government cannot assist us financially, we will carry on with the logging activities,” Azizan added.

*************************************************

This is what happens when the federal government squeezes the opposition-led states and denies it the funding it requires. The federal government seems to forget that the granting of funds to the states should not be tied to which political party is running those states. The granting of funds to the states is a clause in the Federation Agreement.

At one time, the Malay states were independent and were known as the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, or the Unfederated Malay States. Then they all agreed to merge into the Federation of Malaya. In doing so the states agreed to relinquish certain rights like national defence, security and foreign policy while they retained certain rights like land matters, natural resources and religion. Each state would then be given an annual grant plus loans for development, calculated based on the size of its population.

These were the terms agreed in the Federation Agreement and which was the basis for all the states to merge under the Federation of Malaya. And any first-year law student can tell you that an agreement made on the basis of mutual consent can no doubt be changed with the signing of a supplementary agreement, but must also be based on mutual consent. One party can’t unilaterally change the terms of the agreement without the consent of the other party. In the event one party violates the terms of the agreement, then the aggrieved party can either give notice for the termination of the agreement or sue for specific performance, with or without damages (unless there is a specific clause in the agreement that stipulates what happens when there is a breach -- like going for international arbitration, etc.).

Therefore, in this spirit, the federal government has no choice but to give the states grants and loans for development. If the federal government fails to do so then, for all intents and purposes, the federal government has violated the terms of the Federation. And the states will therefore also have no choice but to fend for themselves the best way they can -- which will include cutting down all the trees to turn them into much-needed cash with which to pay for the cost of running the states and to finance development.

Oil and gas is a state resource. Under the terms of the Federation Agreement, oil and gas, which is a state resource, belongs to the states, 100% (just like water, timber, tin, iron, gold, coal, etc.). However, in 1974, the federal government nationalised oil and gas and then forced all the 13 states to sign an agreement with Petronas -- whereby the newly created national oil company will become the owner of all the oil in gas and the states would just enjoy a 5% ‘commission’. Later, the states were forced to sign a supplementary agreement stating that the 5% ‘commission’ would be officially and legally called ‘royalty’.

The states really had no choice in the matter. This was not mutually agreed. What the federal government did was to pass a law in Parliament called the Petroleum Development Act 1974. By law, the states had to relinquish all rights over oil and gas and the federal government, through Petronas, took what belonged to the states ‘by force’. That not being enough, the federal government even violated the Petroleum Development Act plus also the agreement that the states were forced to sign with Petronas. In 2000, the federal government cancelled the 5% royalty due to Terengganu and handed it over to Umno to manage. And they also changed the name ‘royalty’ to ‘goodwill money’ -- which does not appear anywhere in the Petroleum Development Act or the agreement the states were forced to sign with Petronas.

Yes, the federal government has, time and time again, violated the terms of the Federation Agreement. And they violated it again in 1974 by nationalising a state resource -- oil and gas. And they violated it yet again in 2000 by cancelling the 5% royalty in spite of the 5% being morally wrong in the first place (but made legally right through an Act of Parliament). And now, after the 8 March 2008 general election, the federal government is up to its tricks again by denying the opposition-led states the funds it is legally obligated to give the states.

Sure, the states can’t send the federal government a notice of breach of agreement with 30 days notice to terminate the federation or to sue the federal government for specific performance and possibly for damages as well. But it can do the next best thing. The states still have land, water, timber, tin, gold, iron, coal, and much more. The jungles bordering Kedah, Perak and Kelantan are rich in resources, much of it explored but untouched since the beginning of time. The states can open up these lands and exploit whatever they can find there, timber included. The states have no choice but to do this. But what a great loss to the world when after some time not a single tree is left standing in this country and Malaysia eventually turns into a hot desert and Malaysia’s contribution to global warming will turn this world into a mess.

What will happen when there are no longer any trees in the catchment areas? Well, there will no longer be any rain and the dams will dry up. Then water will cost more than petrol like in Saudi Arabia. And this will happen because Umno wants to punish the opposition-led states by denying it funds although, when these states joined the Federation of Malaya in 1957, it was agreed that the states would receive funding and the agreement did not say that funding will be given only on condition that Umno rules these states.

Sabah too has been expressing its unhappiness all these many years but the grumblings of the Sabahans have fallen on deaf ears. But Sabahans no longer want to take any shit just like how the Sultan of Terengganu decided he too will no longer take any shit and he made this very clear by rejecting Umno’s choice of Menteri Besar. Now, Umno is going to return the 5% oil royalty it stole from Terengganu since 2000. But Terengganu does not want just the 2008 royalty. They want the royalty stolen since 2000, which comes to about RM7 billion, or RM8 billion with this year’s included.

Okay, if Umno does not want the eight Members of Parliament and 28 State Assemblymen from Terengganu to leave Barisan Nasional and become ‘independents’, then the federal government has to hand over RM8 billion this year. If not, then Terengganu Darul Ehsan will become the Independent Sultanate of Terengganu. The ball is at Umno’s feet.

Sabah too is pressing for the federal government to not only honour the Federation Agreement but the 20-point Agreement as well. Under the 20-point Agreement, Sabah is not one of the states of Malaysia equivalent to Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Perak or Selangor. Sabah is equivalent to Malaya.

This is what Wikipedia has to say about the matter:

The 20-point Agreement was written for the main purpose of safeguarding the interests, rights, and the autonomy of the people of Sabah upon entering the Federation of Malaysia. It was originally envisaged that Sabah will be one of the four entities in the Federation, the others being Malaya, Singapore, and Sarawak. However, as times passed, Sabah and Sarawak ended up being merely one of the 13 states in the Federation.

Many do not understand this very important fact. Sabah is not a state as such. Sabah is of the same status as Malaya. Sabah lawyers can freely practice in Kuala Lumpur but Kuala Lumpur lawyers need permission to practice in Sabah. Sabahans can freely travel to West Malaysia but West Malaysians can be denied entry into Sabah (once upon a time West Malaysians needed to show their international passport before they could enter Sabah).

Is this unfair and smacks of double standards? This was what was agreed when Sabah teamed up with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore to form Malaysia. Whether it is fair or not is not the issue. The issue is: this was what was agreed and if it is not fair then why agree to it? You can’t agree to something, fair or unfair, just to entice a state to join the Federation and then, after it has joined, you scream about the terms being unfair and unilaterally change the terms against the wishes of the other party.

And this is what the federal government has been doing all this while. It unilaterally changes the terms of the agreement and forces the states to agree to these changes. If also forces the states to sign contracts that are one-sided and a breach of the Federation Agreement or the 20-point Agreement. But now the states are fighting back. Now the states will no longer take any shit. And this is what is happening in the Terengganu, Kedah and Sabah situations. The aggrieved parties are fighting back as they rightfully should. And Terengganu wants back its RM7 billion. Kedah is going to cut down all its trees. Sabah will go for a new government that can increase its 5% royalty to 20% (which should be 100% in the first place) plus a government that can honour the 20-point Agreement, which was the basis for it to team up with Malaya to form Malaysia.

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Friday June 20, 2008
Green groups oppose Kedah plan

Staronline

ALOR STAR: Environmental groups are against the Kedah government’s plan to allow logging at the Pedu, Muda and Ahning dam catchment areas, claiming it will be detrimental to the environment.
Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) Kedah branch chairman Phang Fatt Khow yesterday urged the Pakatan Rakyat state government to reconsider the move to protect water catchment areas as well the surrounding bio-diversity.
“We are against the state’s plan to allow logging because in the long run, it may jeopardise water supply for padi cultivation,” Phang said.
He however agreed that the state should receive compensation from the Federal Government if it had to sacrifice the logging contracts to protect the environment.
Consumers Association of Penang president S.M. Mohamed Idris also cautioned against allowing logging at catchment areas as it would cause problems such as water pollution, flooding or droughts.
Yesterday Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak said the state government would scrap its logging plan if the Federal Government paid the state RM100mil annually as promised.
“We have to carry out logging because we need the money to run the state and conduct development for the people. But if we can have other revenue, then we won’t need to do it,” he told newsmen after visiting SK Suka Menanti here.
Azizan had on Wednesday, announced that the state government had approved logging activities at the dam catchment areas which would contribute about RM16bil in revenue for the state.
He had said the move was necessary to cover the high expenditure incurred by the state following the petrol price increase.

Shall We TENDER for the logging concessions?

I read with concern that a mere acre of logging concession in Kedah only costs RM500 to RM1000 (US$150-US$300)! Well, I don't understand how the previous state government thinking juice work! Imagine a mature tree can easily fetch RM10000 (US$3500) (if a log costs RM3000 as mentioned in the report below) ....how? A rational thinking person will know that there could be some stupid lawmakers who can't even understand simple arithmetic.
Is there corruption?

Ok, now, if the present state government is willing to tender out the logging concessions at RM25K (US$8100) per acre....then WE as citizen of EARTH could bit for the tender so that the forest and jungle could be spared the chop!
At 2400 acres per year, it will costs 2400xUS$8100 = US$19.5 mil.
Any citizen of the earth or any group or perhaps everyone of us chip in to bit for the tender! And SAVE OUR FOREST!!

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Staronline
Friday May 2, 2008
Kedah to have open tender for logging

ALOR STAR: Kedah is opting for open tenders for logging concessions as negotiated tenders had caused the state to lose an annual revenue amounting to more than RM50mil.

Mentri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak said the state could earn RM10,000 per acre (RM25,000 per hectare) but only got between RM500 and RM1,000 per acre (RM1,250 and RM2,500 per hectare) through negotiated tenders.

“How can the rate be so much lower for negotiated tenders? The loggers can sell one log for RM3,000 but the state is given a mere RM500 per acre.

“Don’t tell me we only have one tree per acre?” he asked.

Azizan said Kedah should earn RM60mil from the 2,400 ha of area allotted for logging annually if it got RM25,000 per hectare.

“That is why the state executive council has decided to implement open tender system for logging concessions from next year,” he said.

It was reported yesterday that Kedah had closed its door on negotiated tenders for logging concessions and was opting for open tenders instead.

Changes to curb illegal logging

The Star
Friday August 24, 2007
By C.A. ZULKIFLE

TUMPAT: Tagging trees with radio frequency identification (RFID) devices and raising the reward for information are two of several sweeping changes being considered to curb illegal logging.

Natural Resources and Environment Ministry parliamentary secretary Datuk Sazmi Miah said other moves being considered included allowing the ferrying of timber only during the day.

He said on his road journey back to Kota Baru from Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, he counted 70 trailers ferrying logs at night.

He said he would also propose that the movement of trailers be done on a fixed schedule to enable effective monitoring of their cargo.

The proposed hours would be from 10am to 5pm daily, he said after opening a Merdeka carnival at SK Kampung Laut here.

Sazmi said previously, forest rangers faced difficulty in determining if the logs chopped down were from restricted zones, so RFID technology could help them overcome the problem.

He would propose that RFID tags be fitted to tree trunks in selected zones of forest reserves, especially in areas prone to illegal logging.

“Some of the logs obtained illegally are sent extremely fast to wood processing factories, before the authorities can react.”

He said the ministry was studying how the mechanism of illegal logging worked, from the modus operandi of loggers to the transporters and factory operators.

Sazmi acknowledged that illegal loggers continued to operate beneath the radar of detection imposed by the authorities.

He said the ministry would check to determine if there were insiders aiding illegal logging syndicates.

Public information was also crucial, and the ministry hoped to increase the rewards offered, he said.

He added that illegal logging must be stopped immediately because its effects on the environment were lingering. Most of the rivers in Kelantan, he said, were polluted due to siltation caused by over-logging in hilly terrain.

He was also worried that floods, a usual occurrence during the year-end monsoon, could worsen due to excessive logging.