Tuesday, June 19, 2012

"Now because of the Forestry Department, the government is going to waste time and money" - Timbalan Menteri Pelancongan



Forestry Dept brought to task



Monday June 18, 2012

By RINTOS MAIL 

RINTOS@THESTAR.COM.MY

KUCHING: The state Forestry Department has been blamed “for creating issues” in Mambong parliamentary constituency.


Tourism Deputy Minister Datuk Dr James Dawos said the department’s decision to issue a timber licence in a gazetted water catchment and agricultural lot allocated to families affected by the Bengoh Dam had got the people all riled up.


Besides, he said, as the MP of the area, he felt by allowing the areas to be logged out, the department was pitting him and the Barisan Nasional against the people.


“Logging is a very sensitive issue among the natives and it is already a major issue in my area that can turn the people against Barisan Nasional in the coming parliamentary election,” he said.


Dawos was commenting on reports of villagers who have voiced their opposition to logging in the said areas which are the forests in the upper Sarawak Kiri River and the agricultural lot set aside to provide for the resettlment of said villagers.


Timber licences are said to have been issued to some individuals and companies to extract timber from the secondary forest of the native customary right (NCR) land of Kampung Giam, Kampung Semadang and the agricultural lots of the four villagers.


Dawos, who is Mambong MP, said in the first place timber licence should not have been issued in the area because it was a gazetted water catchment area.


Asked how he would tackle this issue in the coming elections, Dawos replied: “The state government should tackle the issue, not me.


“Of course, the people will blame me for not doing anything, but I know for a fact that it was me and the former state attorney general Datuk J C Fong who prepared the gazettement notice and (spell out) the prohibited activities in the area last time and not the director of forest.”


According to him, logging is totally prohibited in the area because it will pollute the water. He said if all the prohibited activities were being done in the water catchment areas then there was no point protecting the quality of our water any more.


“If you allow logging in the area then we can do anything, we can go and throw poisons into the water as you like because government officers themselves are allowing this sort of things,” he said.


He said logging would cause sedimentation because loggers would also use oil and lubricants and when they threw these to the ground they ended up in the rivers.


He said it was “all stupidity not knowing how to manage the environment”.


“I am fed up with all this and I don’t care about election if this problem is not resolved. This thing has given me pain in the neck because the state government agency (Forestry Department) is creating the problem in the area,” he said.


~ The Star


Ali Yusop Pengarah Perhutanan Sarawak


Said Mambong MP James Dawos Mamit, who is also the Bengoh resettlement scheme committee chairman: “All our efforts [since 1997] are wasted… it was not easy to convince them [natives] to leave their homes.
“Now because of the Forestry Department, the government is going to waste time and money if the people refuse to move out… the government will lose millions of ringgit.”

2 comments:

  1. Come to Miri Court tomorrow at 9am. Support our longhouse folk
    Posted on June 19, 2012

    Francis Paul Siah writes…

    A message (via SMS) from our lawyer friend in Miri, Harrison Ngau, who has represented many of our rural folks in land disputes.

    “Please come to the Miri court 2moro morning (Wed, June 20) to support the residents of 2 longhouses Rh Anchum and Rh Nyayung of Sg Tinjar Baram.

    They have been sued by Boustead Pelita Plantation Sdn Bhd over land long occupied by the residents. The company has been issued provisional lease over the same land by the Sarawak Government.

    Now they are even prevented from entering the land which has been their homes, their farms, their sources of income.

    Harrison asked: “Where is 1Malaysia which promises people first? Where are the rich, the towkays given priority over the poor”

    “Come bring your banners and supporters, PKR, DAP, PAS, Bersih, NGOs etc The more the merrier”

    END of SMS

    I urge all our MoCS friends in Miri, particularly those on this email list, to turn up and support our longhouse brethren. Bring your supporters and friends along.

    This daylight robbery of land is something which MoCS will continue to fight against. We must not allow BN cronies, Boustead Pelita bosses in this case, to get away with stealing land from the people.

    SUPPORT the residents of Rh Anchum and Rh Nyayung!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ape ler penyamun Dawos tok?

    Forest Dept ke, Mininstry Tourism ke, smua penyamun!

    Tendangkan kjaan PBB/BN tok!

    ReplyDelete