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Date:         Sat, 12 Sep 1992 07:29:48 EDT
From:         "John A. MacDougall" <apakabar@ACCESS.DIGEX.COM>
Subject:      Sarawak Update from SAM (fwd)

Forwarded message:
From apakabar@igc.apc.org Sat Sep 12 07:23:13 1992
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 92 04:24:51 PDT
From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar@igc.apc.org>
Message-Id: <9209121124.AA15661@igc.apc.org>
To: apakabar@access.digex.com
Subject: Sarawak Update from SAM

/* Written  2:18 pm  Sep 12, 1992 by peg:dte in cdp:rainfor.genera */
/* ---------- "Sarawak Update from SAM" ---------- */
                             SAHABAT ALAM MALAYSIA



                                 SARAWAK UPDATE
                               10 SEPTEMBER 1992

        Dear Friends,

        The continuing concern over the Sarawak forest and native  commu-
        nities'  plight has generated a number of sections from  the  au-
        thorities  and  timber industry. The leading role played  by  the
        Malaysian Federal Government in the United Nations Conference  on
        Environment  and Development (UNCED) in June 1992  has  increased
        demands  on the government to improve national policies. In  par-
        ticular, the issue of Sarawak has received more attention.

        1. NATIONAL FORESTRY COUNCIL CONCERNED OVER ILLEGAL LOGGING

        The  Deputy  Prime Minister, Encik Ghafar Baba,  who  claims  the
        National  Forestry  Council (NFC) announced on 25 August  1992  a
        proposal  that  state  governments should  stop  awarding  timber
        concessions.  Instead, each state government should  directly  be
        involved  in the industry, and contractors be appointed  to  fell
        and transport timber out of the forest. This was to check illegal
        logging which is growing all over the country.

        The  NFC also stated that a proposal that the country's  army  be
        deployed to check illegal logging will be submitted to the Feder-
        al  Cabinet  within a month's time. If this is  implemented,  all
        forest  reserves will be declared restricted areas,  making  them
        accessible to only those with special passes (New Straits  Times,
        26 August 1992).

        While  SAM  supports moves to check illegal logging, we  are  ex-
        tremely concerned over the implications of the  above proposal on
        the  rights  of  native communities all over  the  country,  with
        regard to their traditional forest areas.

        On  larger concern, too, is that logging (legal and illegal)  are
        depleting our forests at a rapid and unsustainable rate. The  NFC
        should be taking steps to prohibit logging or other  exploitation
        of  primary forests and sensitive areas (water  catchments,  hill
        forests and areas of valuable bio-diversity).

        Meanwhile,  the Sarawak Government responded immediately  by  as-
        serting  that it will not change its forest exploitation  system.
        According  to the State's Chief Minister, Tan Sri Amar Haji  Taib
        Mahmud,  "We have sufficient control of the forest industry"  and
        Sarawak  will  stick to the present practice of  awarding  timber
        concessions.

        He  also  said that the State Government had introduced  laws  to
        prevent  the Government from being manipulated by people  out  to
        use  the industry to destabilise the political situation or  gain
        power  through  wealth  (Borneo Post, 29 August  1992).  This  is
        ironical considering that the present Government (as with  previ-
        ous ones) are a model of "timber politics and patronage".







        2. SARAWAK ALREADY OVERLOGGING ITS DECLARED QUOTA

        Despite  the Sarawak Government's rhetoric of reduced logging  to
        comply  with  the recommendations of the  International  Tropical
        Timber Organisation  (made in November 1990), logging is going on
        at a ferocious pace.

        The  target for 1992 was a reduction of 1.5 million cubic  metres
        from  the previous year's 18 million cu.m. (the ITTO  recommended
        an  annual  cut of 9.2 million cu. m.). By August,  SAM  was  in-
        formed, the amount recorded was almost 15 million cu. m.

        In the period January - April 1992 alone, about 5 million cu.  m.
        of sawlogs were exported, almost half of which went to Japan.  If
        we  include the export of sawn timber and plywood, and take  into
        account  the amount of wood destroyed in logging  operations  and
        wasted in downstream processing, the actual volume of wood  taken
        from the forest in the first quarter of the year could be as high
        as  7 to 8 million cu. m. (Estimates based on trade  figures  re-
        leased by the Statistics Department).

        The  State Government has just issued a directive to  all  timber
        companies to reduce their log production by up to 70 to 80 %  for
        the rest of the year.  The State Government will impose quotas on
        the volume of logs which can be extracted from 1993 onwards. This
        is the first time that such a move has been adopted.

        In 1991, the official production figure was 18 million cu. m.  At
        current rates, the 1992 volume will certainly exceed even that of
        1991 which was widely acknowledged as too high already.

        SAM has visited a number of areas in the Ulu Baram District,  and
        received reports from longhouse villages and timber workers  that
        "everything  is being cut". Transportation of logs from the  con-
        cession areas is reported to take place until 3 or 4 a.m.

        Workers in the industry are increasingly worried about the  secu-
        rity  of  their employment. SAM has always warned that  with  the
        forest  gone,  the jobs will go anyway; the industry, as  in  the
        Sarawak  case (and also in the rest of the country), cannot be  a
        secure supplier of jobs (Borneo Post, 29 August 1992).


        3. JAPANESE COMPANIES SALVAGING THEIR IMAGE

        The  role of Japan as the largest wasteful consumer  of  tropical
        wood, has generated considerable pressure on the companies  which
        finance logging operations and import timber from tropical  coun-
        tries, especially Sarawak.

        In order to counter such expose, major Japanese trading companies
        are taking steps to promote a "green" image. Mitsubishi  Corpora-
        tion Japan and Daiya Malaysian Sdn. Bhd. (a Malaysian  subsidiary
        of Mitsubishi which had a timber concession in Sarawak) sponsored
        a  3-day  symposium  on "Rehabilitation  of  Tropical  Rainforest






        Ecosystems: Research and Development Priorities" in Kuching  from
        2  - 4 September 1992 (Borneo Post, 29 August 1992).  Papers  in-
        clude:

        a.  Experiences of rehabilitating disturbed forest, ex-mining and
        urban areas in Sarawak, Peninsular Malaysia, Brazil, the  Philip-
        pines,  Australia,  Indonesia, India, Thailand, New  Zealand  and
        Japan (10 papers);

        b.  Ecological basis of forest rehabilitation (5 papers);

        c.  Results of  research  on  tree growth, species selection  and
        potential impacts of forest rehabilitation (15 papers);

        d.  Further research and development (5 papers).

        The  organisers are the Sarawak State Ministry of Resource  Plan-
        ning, Universiti Pertanian Malaysia and Yokohama National Univer-
        sity.

        Earlier  in July 1992, Nichimen Corporation, another major  Japa-
        nese  timber trader, signed an agreement with the Sarawak  Timber
        Industry  Development  Corporation (STIDC) to set  up   "Nichimen
        Forestry Scholarship Fund". This brainchild of the Sarawak  Chief
        Minister  (who also chairs STDIC) will train Sarawakians in  for-
        estry and selected subjects. M$300,000 will be contributed  annu-
        ally  by  Nichimen  Corporation for 5 years  beginning  in  1992)
        Borneo Post, 7 July 1992).

        However, Nichimen Corporation made it clear that it was primarily
        interested  in  obtaining a continuous supply of round  logs  and
        wood products from Sarawak for the Japanese market (Borneo Bulle-
        tin, 7 July 1992).


        Yours sincerely,


        S.M. MOHD IDRIS, JP
        President
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