Its chief, Jainab Ahmad Ayid, said she was deeply concerned after reading the comments of Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew that the Sabah government was ready to study the possibility of opening a coal mine in the east coast to address the power supply problem.
“The proposed sites, Maliau Basin and Danum Valley, have been gazetted as totally protected areas. Any land use proposal for their development would threaten the environment,” she said when met at the Sepanggar Umno Family Day and World Children’s Day event here today.
She reminded the Sabah government that Maliau Basin and Danum Valley have been recognised worldwide as the oldest ecosystems in the world.
On Wednesday, in her winding-up speech at the Sabah assembly sitting, Liew said her ministry would consider the proposed use of coal as an alternative source of electricity in Sabah. She said any proposal to open a coal-fired power plant would be studied in detail.
Jainab said the Warisan government should start looking at more environment-friendly solutions to the power supply problem, without resorting to coal.
“They should respect the wishes of the majority of the people who do not want coal to be used as a source of power generation.
“We are aware of the power shortage problem in Sabah but that should not be an excuse to use coal.”
She reminded the Warisan government that although coal is the biggest source of power generation in Malaya, generating 52% of the power there, the same formula could not be used in Sabah.
This is because Sabah’s ecosystem and natural environment had largely been preserved and conserved.
Besides, she believed there are other alternative sources for power generation, including gas, hydro and solar power.
Furthermore, she said Sabah’s environment is an important asset to preserve due to its booming tourism industry but also for the sake of future generations.
In the past, environmentalists and NGOs had opposed any effort to mine the high-quality coal in the Maliau Basin and Danum Valley.
They claimed it was a smokescreen to get at the gold, reportedly buried deep under the layer of coal in the areas.
Additionally, the Maliau Basin is rich with virgin timber worth millions of ringgit.
The Maliau Basin contains an unusual assemblage of 12 forest types, comprising mainly lower montane forests, dominated by majestic Agathis trees, rare montane heath forests, and lowland and hilly dipterocarp forests.
Sabahans had successfully stopped the previous government’s attempts to open a coal-fired power plant in Sabah to address power supply shortages in the east coast.
The revival of this plan to utilise coal to generate electricity was mooted by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently. He said Sabah and Sarawak still had large coal reserves and it was better to use this resource for the benefit of the people.