On January 7, Pan Borneo Highway stakeholders were involved in a simple signing ceremony at Sematan.
After 40 months, the first phase of the project – the Telok Melano-Sematan stretch which began in September 2015 – was completed.
At present the authorities are looking at tidying up the fringes along the barren flanks on both sides of the 33km highway; tying up loose ends such as uncompleted earthworks and grassing to add some green to blend into the jungle environment.
Nobody dared venture into their domain; in fact when my parents had a family “longhouse” bungalow on Sematan beach in the early 1970s, a few terrorists from Samunsam-Camar Bulan area visited our home to taste my mother’s famous “cincalok” fermented prawn.
This is to prepare for the official opening of the first stage of the Highway from Telok Melano by a VVIP who some say could be none other than Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
The “face lift” is necessary because the 6,090ha Sarawak wildlife reserve at Samunsam awaits the visitor.
Samunsam wildlife sanctuary which was established in 1979 and the state’s oldest of its three wildlife sanctuaries was largely a pristine and untouched jungle until recently.
According to Jamahdi Sabian who was appointed to the post of “Penghulu” of Sematan, only nine months ago, the reserve was affected by timber and oil palm companies operating in the Lundu-Sematan area over the last decade.
The current maximum penalty of RM5,000 for possession of illegal timber is insufficient and not a deterrent.
No wonder former chief minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem was furious when he lambasted the “illegal loggers” who were blamed for the destruction which occurred right under his nose and in his own constituency.
Ironically, soon after he took over as the assemblyman of Tanjung Datuk in 2006, illegal loggers and oil palm companies were already encroaching into Samunsam.
Said Juhmadi: “From what I gather, for ten years people from just across the Indonesian border intruded into Samunsam and took over the land illegally.
“To add to the problem, established oil palm companies also took advantage of the situation and started growing oil palm illegally while the locals followed suit and started burning and setting up “Jeramek” farms.”
As a result, the so-called wildlife including Borneo’s famous “Orang Belanda” proboscis monkey and silver leaf monkey and other exotic species have all but disappeared.
On paper the Sematan enclave should be teeming with wild boars and I should know, having visited Telok Melano as far back as 1970; where wild boars from Tanjung Datuk National Park would come down the beaches to wallow in the muddy sand pits and sip the salty water.
Once upon a time, wild boars roamed the forests of nearby Samunsam which shared the border of Indonesian Camar Bulan; they were literally “protected” by the communists because Samunsam was considered a “black area” being the preserve of 20 or so members of North Kalimantan Communist Party (NKCP).
Nobody dared venture into their domain; in fact when my parents had a family “longhouse” bungalow on Sematan beach in the early 1970’s, a few terrorists from Samunsam-Camar Bulan area visited our home to taste my mother’s famous “cincalok” fermented prawn.
One day six pale-looking “mountain rats” (communists whom the Cantonese refer to as San Lo Tze) or the terrorists, visited our home which was open to anyone intending to have a free meal.
It was the tail-end of the Sarawak communist era where the terrorists who had suffered terrible losses were making peaceful overtures. By October 1973, NKCP secretary general Bong Kee Chok and 580 cadres signed a memorandum of understand with the Sarawak government and left our jungles.
However, a handful of about 20 terrorists continued to operate in the Samunsam and adjoining Asuansang National Park in Indonesia until they surrendered in the late 1980’s.
When they left, Samunsam became the hunting ground for anyone who owned a weapon –whether a home-made Indonesia shotgun or a licensed semi-auto.
Today, despite Samunsam being devoid of animal life, the latest tourism brochures still boast of the sanctuary containing “Orang Belanda” (translated in Malay as Dutch because the primate has a large European nose) proboscis monkey, silver Langur “Lutong”, Slow Loris (Kongkang) and Borneo Gibbon (Wakwak) and a lost list of birds and hornbills.
But we all know that you would be lucky to find a squirrel in the forest.
In fact there are squirrels everywhere at Telok Melano nesting in the ancient coconut groves when you would be lucky to find a musang (civet cat) at Samunsam,” said Jumahdi sarcastically.
The Forest Department is well aware of the deforestation of Samunsam and blames the saw millers and wood-working factories who paid the locals to carry out the illegal activities.
But it has never been easy for the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) which is now better armed because their enforcement officers continue to be threatened.
In 2006, an officer was assaulted while carrying out a raid on illegal loggers in Samunsam and suffered head injuries. Three illegal loggers were given light sentences.
The consensus is that stringent measures must be taken to prevent illegal logging at Sarawak’s existing wildlife sanctuaries and 20 or so national parks and nature reserves.
The current maximum penalty of RM5,000 for possession of illegal timber is insufficient and not a deterrent. A Forest Department report lamented: “The penalty for trespassing onto forest reserves is only RM50 under section 77 while the maximum compound was RM200. Even the maximum penalty of RM2,000 for illegal sawmill operations is grossly inadequate. We need to use more legal clout to show them we mean business.”
But when Adenan was chief minister, he blamed both the department and the lackadaisical, attitude of some officials saying: “We must put a stop to it (illegal logging) not because we lose money in the millions, but because we are gaining a bad reputation internationally.
“Don’t mess with me. I am not interested in platitudes. Some (forestry enforcement officers) pretend they don’t know…they have eyes but are blind, ears but they are deaf and mouths but they are blind.”
When the forestry officials complained they were inadequately armed, Adenan gave their enforcement section more shotguns.
He continued: “Some (enforcers) said they are afraid of gangsters, afraid of receiving bullets in the mail. Well you tell them (the gangsters) that Adenan told you to enforce the law. No more excuses not to do anything. I mean what I say.”
In March last year the Forest Department together with the joint Malaysia-Indonesia army finally took action, seized the illegal farms at Samunsam and cut down the rubber and oil palm trees.
It may be a little too late but as they say, better late than never.
Said Juhmadi: “There may be a need to re-gazette Samunsam which is four times the size of Tanjung Datuk and reduce its size. You can’t tell people it’s a wildlife sanctuary because there are hardly any animals in the forest.
“But there are some very small patches of forests left in Samunsam with small animals and maybe this can be conserved.”
As to the badly denuded parts, he said it would a good idea to allocate a small portion to some of the poor villagers in Sematan who could make better use of it rather than leave it idle.
He said that apart from being engaged in farming activities to feed their families, they could also protect the land from our neighbours from across the border.
“More and more people are coming across to Sarawak and some have married into the community. We better be prepared,” he added.
“Let’s claim our land before it’s too late.”
