quoted Sarawak Forest Department director Hamden Mohammad responding to the Sarawak Timber Association. He said:
The title of the article,"Surrender licensed areas if you can’t adapt," further suggests that if any timber industry player were to not make use of these new technologies, then they should surrender their licensed areas. It did not and could not happen overnight. The very idea that someone could comment on a ‘brilliant’ idea that the industry both in Sarawak and around the world could be transformed explicitly through the application of new technologies in such a short span of time is superficial and unrealistic.If the department disagrees, then let’s look at the circumstances of transforming timber resources from natural to planted forests.
Great plans, admirable intentions, and sound policies, but the proposed Kraft Pulp Mill was abandoned after large sums of money were spent. The planting performances were also unsatisfactory. However, the Sarawak Forest Department has forgotten to mention that the LPF holders need to pay hefty sums, amounting to millions of ringgit, in land rental each year to the government, even before harvesting and over the areas that are encroached by the natives and overlapped with existing timber licences.
Together with the fervent and vicious land encroachment and claims of land rights, coupled with the recently approved PGPM bills, would the department still be able to assert that LPF holders were given ‘incentives’? Would the Sarawak chief minister seriously consider putting some of the money from state reserves to invest in planted forests, considering its definitive role in our private and public economy, as well as the preservation of our natural forests for future generations?