Illegal logging: Big players in cahoots?

Covert logging activities under the pretext of a poverty eradication programme appears to be underway in a water catchment area in Ulu Kimanis.

PAPAR: Far from the eyes of the curious, a strange project is taking shape on the forested slopes of the Crocker Range in Ulu Kimanis along the Kimanis-Keningau road near here.

A signboard leading to the secluded site reads: “Jalan Masuk ke Projek MESEJ Kg Kinolosodun, Papar” (road project for Kg Kinolosodon). MESEJ stands for Mini Estet Sejahtera.

At the far end of the 5km asphalted road, on a bulldozed site, lie scores of paint-marked and numbered logs with a tractor nearby. As of last week, the way in and out of the site has been guarded by two police vehicles.

According to a source, the project, said to be for 33 hardcore poor families, started in October 2010 and was to be completed by August last year. However, some sort of work is continuing.

No one was able to say who would be the recipients of the houses built nearby on the side of a steep slope.

Lately passing motorists travelling the highway started noticing from afar the churned earth of logging tracks snaking through the green carpet of the thick jungle-covered slopes and got curious.

Among those curious eyes that spotted the scarred hillside was a leader of State Reform Party (STAR) and he wants some answers.

Water catchment area
Dr Nicholas James Guntobon, STAR deputy chairman in Sabah, said there appeared to be many things wrong with this particular area and wants the state government to explain what is really going on in the Kinolosodon forests.

“I found many wrong things about this one (project). It is enough to raise doubts about the seriousness of the government in combatting illegal logging.

“The area is a water catchment area. What are they doing to the environment there supposedly for a poverty eradication programme?” he asked.

“Every time I pass Kinosolodon now, I see more and more logging tracks in what was once dense forests.

“We found out that the 5 km-asphalt road project is part of the Sabah Development Corridor and cuts deep into the forest in upper Kinolosodon. Though the signboard says the asphalt road was to be completed in August 2011, it was only recently completed,” said Guntobon.

According to him, the Sabah Rural Development Ministry started to go into the forested area building 33 concrete houses for the MESEJ participants.

“The 33 houses were supposed to be completed by May 20, but we found out they have only just started building a few.

“What is very strange and unbelievable is that those MESEJ houses are being built on an extremely steep hill slopes. People think it must be at least 50 degree steep.

“No local would ever want to stay in them as these houses would be swept down in a heavy downpour as the soil is now exposed,” he said.

Guntobon also queried how this could be going on when Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan had just last week ordered residents affected by a landslide in Kota Belud not to build houses on the steep hill.

“However here , MESEJ project houses are being built on extremely steep slopes. Pairin or Chief Minister Musa Aman or even Anifah Aman, who is MP for Kimanis, should explain how this can happen.

“The location of this MESEJ project is also a water catchment area… there are streams and a river down there,” said Guntobon who is also curious what crops or commercial undertaking the hardcore poor families residing there would be undertaking on such forbidding terrain.

Police report

He said he found out about the project recently when a landowner there found that timber was being felled on his land and being taken out by thieves.

“We understand that when his family lodged a police report in Papar, initially there was some reluctance until a very senior state police officer intervened. This is strange,” he said.

Right now, he said, round logs are strewn everywhere around the MESEJ area and following the police report last week, the police had taken shifts to guard the road leading to the area.

“Since the road project started in October 2010, we suspect timber had been felled since 2010 until a few days ago. Yes, there appears to be forestry certification but what is astonishing is that certain forestry documents that are supposed to be in forestry custody are in the hands of company staff.

“People in the know claim that previously forestry staff were only there to monitor from Monday to Friday and there was no one to monitor what happened every weekend for the last two years.

“Is this the reason why people have seen scores of timber lorries coming out of Ulu Kimanis before this? Who is behind this?

“Has this project development period been extended or delayed to facilitate for more time to fell and bring out timber?

“Musa, Anifah and Pairin must explain to the rakyat… this is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

Guntobon said it is a common belief among the villagers that if everyone is quiet about something that is obviously as wrong as this, it could mean “they have all have been handled” somehow or given a share in the spoils.

“The modus operandi is too common. In a similar project in Pinangah area, the state government started the supposedly Lalampas Agropolitan but what happened was timber lorries night and day brought out round logs from the areas. There was no regard for the damage to the environment and the people’s wellbeing.

“We suspect that this project can only happen with the backing of some powerful men,” he added.