KUCHING: A team of enforcement officers from the State Forestry Department returned empty handed as none of the workers of a logging company doing illegal logging at a forest area near Kampung Semadang were at the site when they made the raid on Tuesday.
The enforcement team were despatched to the site after the department received report about the illegal logging activities taking place in the area by a company who claimed that they have the licence to log the timber from the area.
It was later learnt that those workers were informed of the raid and had escaped befoire the arrival of the enforcement team.
It is also learnt that (department source) the permit for the company (permit number T/8497) to extract timber from the mentioned forest has expired in April last year.
As such the extraction of timber by the company in the said forest area is illegal.
A check at the site discovered that works on the timber track passing through individual NCR lands to the forest area where logging will be carried out had started since last week which promoted about 40 villagers to stage a protest at the site on Monday.
The place is now being guarded by some Rela members, the action which is very much regretted as Rela shouldn't be involved is such illegal activities.
Kampung Semadeang Rela chief Derik Pasek has clarified that none of Rela members from his platoon being employed there as he had advised them not be involved.
“There are Rela members from other area, not from Kampung Semadang Platoon,” said Derik.
A suspended forest guard, a former councillor, two teachers and two villagers of Kampung Semadang were among the culprits trying to promote two companies to carry out logging activities in the forest area of Kampung Semadang, Kampung Giam, Kampung Giit, Kampung Ngiru/Grait, Kampung Skio and Kampung Danu in upper Penrissen, about 60km from here.
Last week the former councillor and a teacher together with the representatives of the company and two villagers went to the site along the new Kampung Semadang-Bau Road and put up a ‘tua pekong’ where the rituals were performed.
This was done before construct of road/track to the logging area at Kampung Semadang commence.
They had put up the ‘tua pekong’ and performed the rituals purported to seek their blessing of their ‘god’ to start bulldozing the track to the forest area.
Kampung Semadang villagers has burnt down the ‘tua pekong’ to show their protest against the logging activities.
The villagers were angry claiming that they were never being consulted and had never given their consent to any individual or company log timber in their NCR land.
Kampung Semadang had an emergency meeting and chaired by the village chief Samson Manggang and penghulu of Penrissen area Rimong Sutur to discuss the matter.
At the meeting the villagers unanimously agreed to go all out against the activities which they fear would pollute the rivers and their forest, furthermore the area is the water catchment area.
Samson Mangang told The Star that he and the villagers were never being consulted on the matter and were surprise the former councillor, two teachers and two of his village men were involved with the activities.
“During our meeting two weeks ago, which was also attended by Penghulu Rimong Sutur the villagers has expressed their strong protest against the logging activities on their native customary rights (NCR) land.
“Thus we called on the authorities to stop the logging activities in their forest,” said Samson.
The group had their ‘secret’ meeting at a seafood restaurant at Rock Road here on May 12 this year. The meeting was attended by seven persons and chaired by a teacher who claimed he is the owner of a company given the licence to log the timber in the area.
But sources said the company is registered under the teacher’s wife name while his partner who is a Datuk used his son’s name to get the licence.
The meeting was also attended by the former councillor, Kampung Giam Asal headman, a Rela chief and two other persons from Kampung Semadang who claimed themselves committee members of Kampung Semadang Co-operative.
The minute of the ‘meeting’ was minited by another teacher and signed by the teacher who chaired the meeting, who also claimed that he is the licence holder of the logging company.
At the meeting the group has agreed to extend invitation to Penghulu Rimong, Penghulu Frederick Kenek (penghulu Serumbu area), headmen and the JKKK secretary of Kampung Semadang, Kampung Danu, Kampung Giam Asal, Kampung Giam Baru and Kampung Giit and chairmen of the six villages’ cooperatives to attend their next meeting.
Samson said in the past the former councillor was very vocal about the logging activities in the village forest and he was even appointed by Kampung Semadang villagers to head the task force to protest against the logging activities.
He had even lodged a report to the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) with regard to the logging activities last year.
But of a sudden he became the promoter of the logging activities and the villagers has called on MACC to investigate his involvement as well as the other individuals and the Forestry Department officers responsible in approving the logging activities in our NCR land and forest.
Kampung Semadang is a Bidayuh village along Jalan Puncak Borneo about 40km from here, is where the four villages affected by the Bengoh Dam will be resettled.
Samson said the villagers will act immediately and will resort to put blockage to prevent the logging activities and to stop the company bring out the timber.
“We are not going to allow the logging activities in our forest and on our NCR land and we will take the necessary action if the company insist on continuing with their activities,” said Samson.
He said a meeting will be held involving all the affected villages soon to discuss the next course of action to be taken.
They said in recent years, many of them had incurred losses after the government acquired their native customary rights (NCR) land for the resettlement of residents affected by the Bengoh Dam project.
The villagers has also pressured Mambong MP Datuk Dr James Dawos Mamit and Bengoh assemblyman Dr Jerip Susil to use their influent to stop the loggfing activities.
Meanwhile Kampung Danu, Kampung Giam Baru, Kampung Skio, Kampung Giit, Kampung Grait/Nyiru, Kampung Bengoh has joined the protest against the logging activities.
Kampung Giit headman Kidat Baon said kampung Giit and Kampung Grait/Nyiru villagers are angry and strongly against the logging activities and wants the government to stop the logging activities immediately.
“There is not much timber in our area as most of the remaining land in our area are planted with fruit trees and I do not know what timber they are going to extract. Are they going to log our fruit trees?” asked Kidat.
Kampung Danu NCR land committee chairman Nigos Sinsai had said the villagers would not allow any activities related to timber extraction on land belonging to them.
Nigos said they will definitely protest any such attempt, including using our NRC land for the construction of logging tracks, adding this has been agreed upon by all the villagers during their meeting.
Nigos said the villagers had never given any green light to anybody or any company to extract timber in forests within their NCR land or build logging tracks through such land.
He claimed that the villagers did not recognise an agreement that was signed by the village head because he had done so without the agreement of the villagers.
In fact, Nigos said, the villagers had reprimanded their headman and voiced their protest at a meeting between the company’s representatives and the villagers at Kampung Danu.
Nigos said the villagers had in fact told the company representatives that if the company insisted on logging in the area concerned, it would have to face the wrath of the villagers.
Dawops has blamed the state Forestry Department for what he term as creating issues in Mambong parliamentary constituency.
The Tourism Deputy Minister 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.
He sxaid logging is a very sensitive issue among the natives and it is already a major issue in his area that can turn the people against Barisan Nasional in the coming parliamentary election.
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.
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.
Meanwhile Jerip is also concerned about the issue and is unhappy that the logging companies used his name to lobby for support from the affected villages and villagers.
The Public Health Assistant Minister advised the company to stop making use of his name and would not hesitate to take action if they continue to do so.
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