TAWAU: Political will and determination is vital in combating illegal logging activities involving syndicates with high-level connections, said Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sabah vice chairman Chan Foong Hin.
Chan, who welcomed Sarawak’s Chief Minister’s bold action against illegal loggers, said apparently, there was more transparency in Sarawak under the new leadership of Tan Sri Adenan Satem.
The Sri Tanjong assemblyman was commenting on the Malaysian Anti-corruption Commission (MACC) investigation into complaints of illegal logging in Sarawak that purportedly resulted in losses amounting to at least RM100 million a year. An operation, dubbed ‘Ops Tukul’ was undertaken with the cooperation of the police, Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency as well as the Sarawak Forestry Department.
He said MACC had frozen 30 accounts belonging to the 10 logging companies involved, totaling RM18 million. Based on MACC’s observation for nine months, Sarawak had lost RM43 million to illegal logging. The losses at each year are no less than RM100 million.
“However, it is interesting to compare the official figures of illegal logging losses in Sarawak before and after the change of state leadership. It was reported that ‘losses suffered due to illegal logging stood at 0.01 per cent of the RM731 million in revenue collected from timber taxes and royalties in 2010’, according to the Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister of Sarawak Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan (Borneo Post, 22 March 2012),” he said.
“How much actually is 0.01 per cent of RM731 million? It’s RM73,100 only. How could illegal logging losses in Sarawak increase sharply to at least RM100 million a year within five years time? Obviously, the previous figure is inaccurate and misleading,” Chan commented.
“Does Sabah also have a similar problem? It is reported that the timber royalty in the state has been dropping drastically over 60% from RM465 million in 2005 to RM173 million in 2012. How much is actually Sabah’s illegal logging losses?” Chan asked, adding that unchecked forest clearing posed a hazard to environmental sustainability.
“I call upon MACC to step in to investigate illegal activities and serious leakages in the timber royalty collection. I understand it is an uphill task in putting an end to corruption in the illegal logging sector as many quarters with vested interest are involved. However, it is vital to address the issue seriously,” Chan concluded.