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Logging reaches Sarawak’s ‘last
frontier’ However,
they said the preventive actions will be carried out in a ‘non-confrontational
manner’. Locals have already sighted machineries and employees of Samling, one of the state’s biggest logging
companies, in many parts of the highland areas. Samling
is said to have received a huge concession starting from Bario
right up north towards Limbang and extending to the
border with Kalimantan Borneo. This is believed to amount to millions of
hectares. A tell-tale signs of commercial logging reaching the highland areas, is the roads being constructed by the company from
Long Akah towards Bario
and Limbang. Last
frontier The
highland area, according to Orang Ulu lawyer Baru Bian, is the last-frontier for timbermen.
“Because of its isolation and remoteness, there are virgin jungles and
the trees are huge which makes it attractive,” he told malaysiakini today. American anthropologist Dr Sarah L
Hitcher from University Georgia, who carries out field research and studies,
said the small Kelabit settlement at Pa'Lungan near Bario are
worried as logging is taking place almost at their doorsteps. There is a
private initiative involving the academia and educated members of the local
communities to look at the possibilities of enlarging the new 59,000-ha Pulong Tau National Park by
creating what has been described as a ‘transboundary
protected area’ extending from east of the park right up to the border
areas. The idea behind the initiative is for the local communities to be
involved in a biodiversity conservation and eco-tourism project, taking into
account the evidence of past settlements dating many centuries and megaliths,
burial sites which offers potentials for promoting
trekking through the forest areas. Malaysiakini
learnt that Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud signed the necessary papers in January and two
months later, the Growing
conflicts Locality maps and
satellite pictures shown to malaysiakini indicate
many forest concessions have been issued and that logging is already taking
place near or within the highland forest areas, including the newly-gazetted national park. Some Penans
who still lead a nomadic life living within areas close to the Bario Highlands have protested the inclusion of their NCR
land within the national park area and have even called on the government to
de-gazette the area, as they fear their NCR rights will be automatically
extinguished with the gazette notification. This has resulted in growing
conflicts on the ground with ethnic groups, mainly the Penan
settlement in The Bario House at Church
Camp on The Bario house at Church Camp on Peter Paran Matu and Pun Ritai from Bario Asal were there to oversee the final touches and and make some necessary corrections and improvements.
They also have fitted the energy-saving lights in both rooms, the power
source being the generator for the church.
The house is now ready for occupation.
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