PETALING JAYA: Kelantan’s forestry department director, Abdul Khalim Abu Samah, was described as being ignorant today for his comment that logging was beneficial for tigers.
The head of an environmental group, Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil, said Khalim should stop issuing any statements or risk becoming a laughing stock.
She urged Perhilitan, the national parks and wildlife department, to step in immediately to issue a correction and to caution the state forestry director to cease issuing such statements.
Khalim was quoted earlier today as saying that logging was actually “good for the population of tigers”. He argued that the emergence of new plants would lead to an increase in the animal population and become a good hunting ground for tigers.
He said that the Kelantan forestry department, which has been criticised over the rate of logging in the state, had always complied with the annual felling ration determined by the National Land Council and that the logging ration was never exceeded.
Shariffa Sabrina, who is president of environmental group Protection of the Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka), told FMT that Khalim’s remarks about the tigers was “very irresponsible”. Only Perhilitan should issue statements on matters relating to tiger habitats, she said.
She said logging affected not only tigers but also countless other wildlife, as well as the Orang Asli.
She said there was no clear data available about the amount of forest that the government has set aside for logging. “As far as we know, the CTT (felling ration) in Kelantan is highly questionable and cannot be trusted,” she said.
She said Kelantan’s certification for sustainable logging had been retracted by the Malaysian Timber Certification Council in March 2016 after the state exceeded the logging quota.
“This goes to show clearly that Kelantan cannot be trusted in statements they issue when it comes to defending the state’s logging practices.” - FMT
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