Where was Dr M’s bright ideas about logging when he was PM?

This reader asks why the former premier stayed silent about logging before and is only offering suggestions about it after a mega tragedy?

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By Rahman Mohd Irwan

Just last month, the whole of Malaysia was busy trying to help victims of what may have been the worst flood disaster ever to hit the country. The floods that inundated whole villages in the East Coast, with over 100,000 evacuated in Kelantan, may have receded but floods still continue to ravage Sarawak today.

The main cause blamed for the tragedy was deforestation yet till today, there’s been lots of talk about how illegal logging is rampant but little action taken to address the problem.

The only leader who has come out strongly to stop the rape of our forests has been Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who last year warned the state’s “Big 6” timber companies to stop illegal logging activities and set the MACC to probe into these corrupt activities.

Almost immediately, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad came out with his own blog posting at Chedet with some suggestions on how to rein in all logging activities.

“But what about legal logging? They may be legal but they are also destroying even more of our shrinking forest. It is time that we limit legal logging. Concessions for legal logging should be controlled,” he wrote on November 27, 2014.

He said the need for timber from the forest can be replaced with other kinds of timber.

“We have huge areas planted with rubber and palm trees. We need to cut down these trees every 25 years. Here is a good source of timber. “We really do not need timber for housing, especially for formwork. Steel plates can be used again and again. They last longer.

“For furniture use only rubber wood. Palm tree trunks can be made suitable for chipboards and planks. On the other hand, bamboo can be grown on a large scale and be processed into paper, flooring and even cladding for walls. Even coconut shells can be used.”

Touching on how much money could be made with logging, with so many timber tycoons during his time as PM, Dr M had this suggestion: “The Federal Government should compensate State Governments if they reduce or stop giving forest concessions. For this compensation the Federal Government should be given a say in issuing logging permits.”

If he has such a bright idea of how to solve this big problem that’s been going on for so long, why didn’t he do it when he was the PM?

Also, if he had so much to say earlier, why did Dr M have nothing to say about deforestation and logging activities during and after the East Coast flood tragedy?

Is there something he does not want people to be talking about?

Rahman Mohd Irwan is an FMT reader