A second, natural resources minister, Paul Telukluk, had made known his desire to see new projects conform with the principles of sustainable development. The third, former agriculture and forest minister, Onneyn Tahi, who recently moved to telecommunications, has supported the Malaysians' plans. The Borneo Post newspaper says the ministers' three-days in Sarawak were at the invitation of the Foncen Timber Company. While in the Sarawak, they paid courtesy calls on senior Sarawak government officials. The ministers visited timber operations in Bintawa, and were accompanied during their visit by Foncen Timber executive chairman, Hii King Chiong.
Officials say the trip came in the lead-up to cabinet deliberations on the Malaysian proposals.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian prime minister, Doctor Mahathir, has proposed a plan to reforest the world and provide tree coverage to 30 percent of the land area by the year two-thousand. At the same time, Doctor Mahathir accused Western countries of disregarding the destruction of their own temperate forests and only being concerned with logging in tropical regions.