“There are illegal logging activities (going on), I know. I can’t pin down the ones operating it (but) I have heard this for quite a while,” he told reporters after chairing the state cabinet meeting today.
He said some timber concessionaires that were supposed to rehabilitate the forest were instead illegally logging in forest reserves.
The state government would review all timber concessions including forest management units (FMUs) to get to the root of the problem, he said.
“For instance, companies involved in forest management units (FMUs) are not actually doing re-planting but are allegedly logging other areas.
“There are also others which are supposed to replant timber trees but they instead planted oil palm trees,” he said.
A FMU is a demarcated area consisting mostly of thick forests that is managed on a long-term basis and have clear objectives in a forest management plan.
FMUs could be awarded to timber companies, among others, which would extract and remove commercial timber but have to carry out forest management, rehabilitation and industrial tree planting.
“The Forestry Department has identified the areas that have been affected. These are the areas we need to review.
“We need to probe why there are still logging activities in areas gazetted as reserves.”
Shafie also said the state government was looking at whether these concessionaires were involved in the mysterious deaths of pygmy elephants.
“There could be a direct link between these deaths and the concession holders. We also don’t know if other wildlife were affected too.
“If everything is in order then there is no problem to proceed but if it’s not then we will take the necessary action according to the law,” he said, adding the forestry department will give him a more extensive briefing next week.
Sabah DAP secretary Chan Foong Hin had last week urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to look into possible graft being linked to the recent deaths of six Bornean pygmy elephants.
The Kota Kinabalu MP said this was not the first time a large number of elephants were found dead in Sabah’s forests.
He had lodged a MACC report over an alleged cover-up after learning that a Yayasan Sabah management staff was sacked when she reported the mysterious deaths of 14 elephants in the foundation’s timber concession area in 2013.
Meanwhile, to a question on the whereabouts of missing Sabah Barisan Nasional chief Musa Aman, Shafie said the state government had no expertise to “track down” anyone.
“We leave it to the police or the MACC. Let them do their job because they know what to do.
“But if they asked for help from the state to facilitate in terms of providing information with regards to documents, we will be willing to support,” he said.
Elephant deaths: Sabah DAP leader wants MACC to also investigate