Jeffrey moves to stop 'robber barons'
Joe FernandezPublished: Jul 21, 2009 3:13 AM | Updated: Jul 21, 2009 4:11 AM
Robber barons have been running amok on 109,600 hectares of the Sabah Foundation (Safond) concession area in a five-year long clandestine operation.
Robber barons have been running amok on 109,600 hectares of the Sabah Foundation (Safond) concession area in a five-year long clandestine operation.
They have already stripped 13,858 hectares of deep virgin jungle of all timber in clear-felling, driven away wildlife and extinguished plant species in their thousands.
These activities, in the Tawau district, which only recently became public knowledge, has resulted in 3.5 million tons of soil being dumped every year in the Sungai Brantian alone.
This and also as a result of terracing - which is strictly forbidden in forest reserves - silt has choked the main waterway. The soil loss was measured by Chemsains Konsultant Sdn Bhd in an in-house report.
"The land, stripped bare, has been planted with oil palm by mostly thousands of foreign workers, adding insult to injury," said Borneo Heritage Foundation chair Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan.
Jeffrey (right) who was once director of the Sabah Foundation, in an exclusive interview with malaysiakini added: "Section 38 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 which covers animal rescue operations was not enforced. All these are taking place in a forest reserve."
"When I was with Safond, the annual allowable cut was on a sustainable basis. Now, they have thrown away the plan and are felling with no thought for the future or the generations to come."
Jeffrey lodged a police report yesterday in Kota Kinabalu. The former ISA detainee, who is also a national vice-president of PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat), told the press that he now heads the party's new Environment and Development Bureau.
In his report, Jeffrey urged the police to probe into how and why the state government is allowing a vast area in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara Forest reserves to be developed into oil palm plantations in defiance of an existing policy prohibiting agricultural development in forest reserves.
Massive soil erosion silting up rivers
Benta Wawasan Sdn Bhd, a Safond subsidiary under Innoprise Holdings Berhad, was named in the report as a key player which has expended RM106,094,654 up to March this year on the 13,858 hectares.
Benta Wawasan has also has run foul of Section 3 subsection (3) of the Environment Conservation Act of 1996. One particular point cited is the discharge of raw sewerage from human activities directly into waterways, untreated.
Among the rivers affected besides Brantian are Sungai Kuamut, Sungai Kalabakan, Sungai Anjeranjermut, Sungai Tiagau and many other smaller rivers.
Other main parties named in the police report include the Director of Forests and the Environment Protection Department (EPD) for their failure to act in the face of overwhelming evidence of soil erosion as a result of clear-felling activities.
Sepa, the Sabah Environmental Protection Association, has been taken to task ‘for keeping quiet". This is the second time in as many weeks that Sepa has been publicly queried.
The NGO was also found wanting recently in the case of sea coral mining which had been going on undetected in Tawau waters for the last 10 years.
Director of Forests, Sam Manan, was apparently aware of the clear felling from the inception of the project and had warned Benta Wawasan against encroaching into areas greater than 20 degrees.
He also pointed out that riparian reserves at 30 metres on either side of streams and waterways are particularly no go areas, pointing out the environmental impact.
None of these issues were considered by Benta Wawasan and neither did the Forest Department take steps to act against the company and enforce regulations, according to Kitingan.
Benta Wawasan, instead, compounded the situation by undertaking terracing "to achieve 136 to 148 palms per hectare."
Report forwarded to MACC, Suhakam
Copies of the police report will be forwarded to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and the National Integrity Institute.
Jeffrey said the police report against what he termed robber barons, was based on a detailed insider's report on anti-environment activities in the Safond concession area.
He plans to seek court rulings to compel the relevant bodies to discharge their statutory obligations.
He wants the entire mega oil palm project halted immediately, and an EIA (environmental impact assessment) and a DEIA (detailed environmental impact assessment) carried out and mitigation measures proposed.
He also wants the foreign workers shipped home, the terracing undone, the ravaged 13,858 hectares restored to pristine forest and the wildlife brought back to their natural habitat.
Paitin, Semporna and Lahad Datu, all along the eastern seaboard, are some of the more recent examples where the Forest Department, backed by the police and army, allegedly drove out natives from forest reserve areas and erased evidence of their activities and settlements to re-create a fait accompli (established fact) in law.
"It was not so long ago that the Forest Department director had harsh words for those who encroached into forest reserve areas," said Jeffrey.
"His exact words were ... ‘No one is above the law. We will vigourously prosecute those who think they can do what they like in the forest reserve areas' "
"Apparently, they and other enforcement agencies have been looking the other way for the past five years while the 13,858 hectares were clear felled and turned into a massive plantation in a forest reserve."
They have already stripped 13,858 hectares of deep virgin jungle of all timber in clear-felling, driven away wildlife and extinguished plant species in their thousands.
These activities, in the Tawau district, which only recently became public knowledge, has resulted in 3.5 million tons of soil being dumped every year in the Sungai Brantian alone.
This and also as a result of terracing - which is strictly forbidden in forest reserves - silt has choked the main waterway. The soil loss was measured by Chemsains Konsultant Sdn Bhd in an in-house report.
"The land, stripped bare, has been planted with oil palm by mostly thousands of foreign workers, adding insult to injury," said Borneo Heritage Foundation chair Jeffrey Gapari Kitingan.Jeffrey (right) who was once director of the Sabah Foundation, in an exclusive interview with malaysiakini added: "Section 38 of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 which covers animal rescue operations was not enforced. All these are taking place in a forest reserve."
"When I was with Safond, the annual allowable cut was on a sustainable basis. Now, they have thrown away the plan and are felling with no thought for the future or the generations to come."
Jeffrey lodged a police report yesterday in Kota Kinabalu. The former ISA detainee, who is also a national vice-president of PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat), told the press that he now heads the party's new Environment and Development Bureau.
In his report, Jeffrey urged the police to probe into how and why the state government is allowing a vast area in the Kalabakan and Gunung Rara Forest reserves to be developed into oil palm plantations in defiance of an existing policy prohibiting agricultural development in forest reserves.
Massive soil erosion silting up rivers
Benta Wawasan Sdn Bhd, a Safond subsidiary under Innoprise Holdings Berhad, was named in the report as a key player which has expended RM106,094,654 up to March this year on the 13,858 hectares.
Benta Wawasan has also has run foul of Section 3 subsection (3) of the Environment Conservation Act of 1996. One particular point cited is the discharge of raw sewerage from human activities directly into waterways, untreated.
Among the rivers affected besides Brantian are Sungai Kuamut, Sungai Kalabakan, Sungai Anjeranjermut, Sungai Tiagau and many other smaller rivers.
Other main parties named in the police report include the Director of Forests and the Environment Protection Department (EPD) for their failure to act in the face of overwhelming evidence of soil erosion as a result of clear-felling activities.
Sepa, the Sabah Environmental Protection Association, has been taken to task ‘for keeping quiet". This is the second time in as many weeks that Sepa has been publicly queried.The NGO was also found wanting recently in the case of sea coral mining which had been going on undetected in Tawau waters for the last 10 years.
Director of Forests, Sam Manan, was apparently aware of the clear felling from the inception of the project and had warned Benta Wawasan against encroaching into areas greater than 20 degrees.
He also pointed out that riparian reserves at 30 metres on either side of streams and waterways are particularly no go areas, pointing out the environmental impact.
None of these issues were considered by Benta Wawasan and neither did the Forest Department take steps to act against the company and enforce regulations, according to Kitingan.
Benta Wawasan, instead, compounded the situation by undertaking terracing "to achieve 136 to 148 palms per hectare."
Report forwarded to MACC, Suhakam
Copies of the police report will be forwarded to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), Malaysian Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) and the National Integrity Institute.
Jeffrey said the police report against what he termed robber barons, was based on a detailed insider's report on anti-environment activities in the Safond concession area.
He plans to seek court rulings to compel the relevant bodies to discharge their statutory obligations.
He wants the entire mega oil palm project halted immediately, and an EIA (environmental impact assessment) and a DEIA (detailed environmental impact assessment) carried out and mitigation measures proposed.He also wants the foreign workers shipped home, the terracing undone, the ravaged 13,858 hectares restored to pristine forest and the wildlife brought back to their natural habitat.
Paitin, Semporna and Lahad Datu, all along the eastern seaboard, are some of the more recent examples where the Forest Department, backed by the police and army, allegedly drove out natives from forest reserve areas and erased evidence of their activities and settlements to re-create a fait accompli (established fact) in law.
"It was not so long ago that the Forest Department director had harsh words for those who encroached into forest reserve areas," said Jeffrey.
"His exact words were ... ‘No one is above the law. We will vigourously prosecute those who think they can do what they like in the forest reserve areas' "
"Apparently, they and other enforcement agencies have been looking the other way for the past five years while the 13,858 hectares were clear felled and turned into a massive plantation in a forest reserve."
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