Responce to Yayasan Sabah statement on Kalabakan pulp and paper issue
4th October 2000

Sahabat Alam Malaysia is shocked by the response of State owned enterprise Innoprise Corporation Sdn. Bhd that it has do go on with the logging of 33,000 ha of forests in south eastern Sabah for the Kalabakan Pulp and Paper Mill project despite not having done an Environmental Impact Assessment.

According to the corporate secretary of Yayasan Sabah, stopping the logging for an EIA do be done was "difficult".[The Sunday Star, 1 October 2000].

Innoprise, which is an investment arm of Yayasan Sabah, began clearing of the jungle at Kalabakan in late 1998 based on a Coup Permit from the Forestry Department. According to the company, the logging commenced before the coming into force of the Sabah Conservation of Environment (Prescribed Activities) Order 1999 last year, which required an EIA to be done for forest clearing of more than 500 ha.

Although the Sabah 1999 Environment Order came into force only late last year, SAM is of the view that the company would have been required to undertake an EIA for the logging operations, as the Federal Environmental Quality Act 1974 and the Environmental Quality (Prescribed Activities) Order 1987 were still applicable to Sabah. Under the 1987 Order, all logging activities exceeding 500 ha require an EIA to be done and approved prior to any such activity being undertaken.

The company claims to have complied with the Forestry Department conditions but it has clearly not complied with the EIA law under the purview of the Department of Environment, and which law, we understand was being followed by the Sabah Department of Environment Conservation.

Moreover, the Memorandum of Understanding for the pulp and paper project was only signed sometime in 1997 and an agreement between the various joint-venture partners was only signed in August last year.

How then can Innoprise claim that logging for the project actually began in 1998, when the signing of the agreement between the various parties following the MOU had not even taken place?

SAM is outraged that the company which belongs to the State Government is allowed to act in a manner without compliance with the legal provisions. How are they allowed to get away with this?

We are even more dumbfounded by the response of the Sabah Chief Minister who had clarified that the logging was carried out as the land is needed for the purpose of planting trees so that the company undertaking the project can proceed to plant the trees for the pulp mill.

We would expect companies belonging to the State to respect the law and follow all legal procedures, regardless of whatever "difficulties" they may face. If State-owned companies are allowed to violate the law, why should others comply with the law?

The Sabah Government in allowing the logging to go on is making a mockery of the law and is undermining the EIA process.

In response to SAM's letters to the Environment Department, we were informed in August this year that the project proponents have yet to submit an EIA for the project.

The clearing of the forests for the tree plantation is an integral part of the pulp mill project and to proceed with logging without an EIA appears to be clearly illegal!

The purpose of an EIA prior to the commencement of any project is to assess the environmental impacts and ascertain if the mitigation measures proposed by the project proponent is sufficient to minimise the damage to the environment. If the environmental impacts are severe and the mitigation measures inadequate, the EIA must be rejected and the project cannot proceed.

The actions of the company carrying out the logging operations appears to assume that they will get an automatic approval of any EIA which they may submit later!

By allowing the logging to proceed without an EIA, the Sabah Government is completely disregarding the environmental impacts of the forest clearing activity and is ignoring the law.

Since this project was mooted by the Federal Government, it is imperative that both the Federal and State Governments show respect for the environment and the law relating to EIAs. How can both the Federal and State Governments condone such actions by the company?

SAM has written letters to both the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Sabah Chief Minister for a clarification of the matter.



S.M.Mohd. Idris
President