Munan Laja
KUCHING: Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) has urged the Sarawak government to set up a fund for the natives who are living within timber concession areas and licensed planted forests (LPF) to ease their burdens.
Its president Munan Laja who made this call, said the natives faced hardships for many years due to impact of land clearing and extraction of timber.
“The plight of these natives must be looked into by the government because they were the ones who issued the license for planted forest and timber concession areas in the state.
“The government must enforce a fee for every ton of timber extracted to go to the fund,” he said in a press statement issued today.
He said the suggested name for the fund is ‘Natives Trust Foresty fund, and every timber concession area/licensed planted forest license holder must contribute into the fund.
“We propose every license holder to pay a substantial amount to the fund, RM2 from timber concession areas and 50 sen from planted forest for every ton extracted from the area.”
He added that the prosperity of the industry should be shared with the natives as they deserve it too.