PRESS
RELEASE
IN
KOTA MARUDU, 7 SEPTEMBER 1997
PBS:
DO NOT GRANT MASSIVE TIMBER AREAS TO PRIVATE COMPANIES
KOTA
MARUDU, Sun. - Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) today urged the State
government to allow open public discussion on the State’s forestry
management approach and not to rush in granting massive timber areas
to private companies.
Its
deputy president, Dr Maximus Ongkili said the government should
allow all agencies presently involved in forestry development as
well as members of the private sector and non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) to freely contribute views and proposals so that an effective,
transparent and sustainable forestry management policy could be
formulated.
Dr
Ongkili was commenting on Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee ‘s
statement yesterday that Sabah might earn zero revenues from timber
in the next 3 years if the State ignored sustainable forest management
principles.
"We
are all concerned with the issue of sustainability of the State’s
forest produce and we are fully aware of the International Tropical
Timber Organisation’s (ITTO) recommendations on the long term development
of the Sabah forestry sector.
"But
we totally disagree that the way to achieve sustainability is to
privatise management of the State’s 1.7 million hectares of commercial
forest reserve to private sector companies, many of whom have no
experience at all in reforestation", he stressed.
He
said the idea of allowing private corporations to manage and oversee
some 20-odd "forest management units" in the Sabah forestry sector
defied logic.
"Basic
to good practice of public asset management is the crucial role
of government. Normally, a government would not allow the private
sector to manage public assets such as forest reserves because of
the divergence between public goals which are conservation and sustainablity
on one hand, and private goal which is profit maximisation on the
other hand", he claimed.
The
Bandau member of parliament alleged that the present government
leaders seemed to have a different understanding of the concept
of sustainability.
"What
is sustainable is if the forest management unit comprising 100,000
hectares and the forest within it is capable of growing wood at
the rate of 1 cubic metre per hectare per year, we should only allow
harvesting to the maximum of 100,000 cubic metre per year without
depleting the growing stock.
"The
growing stock will again reproduce for the harvest in the following
year. This principle must be adhered to before the whole practice
is considered sustainable", he said.
He
claimed that the government’s approach to allow private companies
to own forest management units of some 100,000 hectares in size
will not help the government to achieve sustainability goals, adding
that "timber companies will usually just harvest the timber but
do very little in replanting the area".
Dr
Ongkili disclosed that opposition assemblymen have been invited
to the launching of the State’s sustainable forestry management
approach by Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee next Wednesday.
"We
were hoping that after the Chief Minister’s recent undertaking to
disclose the State’s sustainable forest policy, the whole idea would
be to conduct a seminar so that ordinary members of the public,
private entrepreneur and professionals involved in the forestry
sector could contribute ideas and proposals. This is because we
are fully aware that even the forestry department proper has not
been given adequate opportunity on the formulation of the so-called
new, sustainable policy.
"Instead
what we have is essentially an invitation to hear the Chief Minister’s
speech and witness the signing of several memorandum of understanding
(MOUs) between the government and companies who have been granted
forest management units.
"To
us, the whole occasion is an eyewash. It clearly shows that the
government just wants to justify its decision to privatise the management
of the State’s commercial forest reserve and not interested in getting
the views of the general public", he claimed.
He
further said that the government should first complete all the management
plans for the respective forest management units and "conduct proper
resource accounting before deciding to sell the timber areas whose
growing stock is not even known".
Dr
Ongkili also repeated his party’s call to tender all the forestry
management units to allow Sabahans to participate through competitive
bidding and not to simply give to companies that have no financial
capacity and experience to undertake reforestation programmes.
"We
also want the Chief Minister to disclose the names and background
of some 17 companies which have been awarded the various management
units", he urged.
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