Taib (centre) with (from right) Morshidi, Manyin, Ramlan, Jabu, Masing and Awang Tengah at the VIP table.
KUCHING: Sarawak has done a great deal in terms of the conservation and protection of its forests.
This is despite allegations by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) against the state for cutting down trees, said Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Attending a function as chief minister on Thursday, he said Sarawak is now covered by 84 per cent of forests.
He said the state government’s policy is to “gradually touch some of the forests we do not reserve as permanent forests”.
“Our policy is to go down to probably to over 50 per cent, which is something that few countries in the world have not been able or afford to do. So from Sarawak’s point of view, we should be regarded as someone who looks after forests rather then being criticised mainly by the NGOs.
“I know the NGOs have no love for Sarawak, but they want a cause for which they want to fight. So Sarawak must remain the cause to the NGOs as a place where they abuse their forests, and we are supposed to make a lot of money by cutting all our forests down.
“But the fact is, we still have our forests and our policy is to reserve 54 per cent as permanent forests. Out of this area, we will of course reserve one million hectares, which cannot be touched at all. And the rest will be harvested on a systematic basis,” he told a dinner hosted by the state government for 8th Malaysia Heads of Mission Conference delegates.
Taib pointed out that the state also has a policy of allowing the forests to grow for 50 years for harvest.
He said he felt obliged to inform delegates of such policies given that Sarawak has gained “a very bad name among NGOs who are talking against us in order to get good support for the campaign to save Sarawak’s forests”.
“Not only have we saved Sarawak’s forests but we have looked after our forests very well. I have to say this not because I am trying to pick a quarrel with the NGOs.”
Recalling his political career, Taib said he had been associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He recalled his first mission to Rabat in Morocco where he was entrusted to establish the union of all the Muslim states.
“When I arrived in Rabat, I didn’t know what to do. There was no guidance from the host country, so after one or two days waiting at a hotel without doing anything, the foreign minister of Iran telephoned me.
“He said to me, you’re from Malaysia. I said yes. He suggested I start a meeting among all of us so that we can arrange for more orderly things. I said better be you because you’re more senior. He then said he did not have the same relationship from Iran as I had from Malaysia.
“So the funny thing was, after giving me the responsibility to organise the meeting, which near the end, he asked me where my minister was. So in an embarrassing manner, I got to point to myself. He looked at me and apologised that he did not recognise me earlier,” he said drawing laughter among the guests and delegates.
He added that the mission managed to set up an Islamic secretariat to unite the Muslim nations.
Taib also joked that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs might need two ministers — “one to roam about and one to stay in one place”.
“I feel that I have been connected to foreign affairs from time to time, I feel at home with most of the foreign affairs people I used to know. But now they have grown old like me, and I have to find out from the officers here, whether so and so is still around or if I want to trace them.
“Some of them are good friends, and sometimes working with me in 1965, when I was appointed as one of the representatives of Malaysia to the United Nations. By and large, I feel quite at ease to welcome officers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Among those present were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang, deputy secretary-general to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Datuk Ramlan Ibrahim, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani, Minister of Land Development Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, Second Minister of Resource Planning and Environment Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan and Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communication Dato Sri Michael Manyin Jawong.