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| Chief Minister Musa Aman |
By: MOHD JEFRI RADIUS
IT worth knowing some historical facts
and figures about the natural landscape of one's own home state e.g
Sabah, the Land Below The Wind for the sake of general knowledge of that
particular place which could in turn be utilized as reference for
clarification of doubts about the place in question someday.
Retrospectively,
in the late 80's, despite a series of explorative attempts or
reconnaissance survey conducted on the ground by earlier Forest
Surveyors, none was considered as really successful other than those
assigned by The Sabah Foundation Organization, to finally unlock and
reveal the mysteries of a Giant Saucer like basin which looked as if it
was physically created by the great impact of a gigantic piece of
meteorite from outer space hitting the Earth during the Jurassic period
190 million years ago.
The basin's rims rises 1,500 to 1,900 metres in
altitude above sea level, thus making it not possible for human
habitation.
This specific spot with such unique topographical
features was later named as "The Maliau Basin" derived from the
appearance of its natural land formation and characteristic.
The
fact is it was unnoticed until 1947 just after the World War Two, when a
pilot barely avoided crashing into the steep hills rising from the mist
shrouded rainforest jungles, it made its first foray into mass
consciousness as entry in The Borneo Bulletin.
The Maliau Basin
was part of the original timber concessions granted to Rakyat Berjaya
Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of Sabah Foundation (Yayasan Sabah), an
organization incorporated way back in 1966 through an Enactment of The
Sabah State Legislative with the objective of improving the Living
Standard and Education of Malaysians in Sabah.
Generally, Yayasan
Sabah is responsible for the management of approximately One Million
hectares of forest reserve areas in Borneo including those located in
the Danum Valley, Maliau Basin and Imbak Canyon with the highest
biodiversity in the State.
Geographically, the Maliau Basin is
located between the intersecting grid points coordinates of Longtitude
117 Degrees East and Latitude 5 Degrees North pointing to the South
Eastern part of the State, engulfing an undulating slopes totalling 588
sq km of spectacular pristine rainforest area with a geological
catchment surrounding the Maliau River, which is famous for its
exquisite and beautiful scenic natural features of bubbling water flows
known as ‘The Majestic 7 Tier Maliau Falls'.
With its own
eco-system, the Maliau Basin is homes to various biological life form
found nowhere else on earth hence earning it's the name ‘The Lost
World'. It may not be an island of dinosaurs but roaming The Lands of
The Maliau Basin are rare mammals such as the Clouded Leopard (Neofelis
Nebulosa) and the Malayan Sun Bear (Helacartos Malayansus) and over 290
bird species including the Rhinocerous Hornbill (Bucerous Rhinocerous)
and White Crested Hornbill (Bevenicornis Comatus).
Within its
enclave lies unusual forest types including the rare Montane Health
Forest and distinctive flora with over 1,800 species plants being
identified so far including the Bintangor trees (Calophyllum Lanigerum)
and believed by researchers to contain the natural compound which could
potentially cure AIDS.
Our neighbouring State of Sarawak has long
banned both the felling and export of this specific tree species. The
Sarawak Medichem Pharmaceuticals Incorporation, is conducting further
clinical tests of the drug upon approval from the US Foods and Drugs
Administration (FDA).
Upon realising the uniqueness of the area
despite barely explored, The Sabah Foundation had voluntarily designated
Maliau Basin as a Conservation Area in 1981 along with the Danum Valley
as forest corridors not merely to maintain ecological balance but such
categories of forest is vital for wildlife habitation.
The Maliau
Basin was gazetted as a Class 1 Protection Forest Reserve by the Sabah
State Assembly way back in 1997. The driving force behind the entire
idea of gazetting the area in question was then Director of Sabah
Foundation, Datuk Seri Musa Aman, who subsequently assumed the role as
the 14th Chief Minister of Sabah in 2003.
It is evident that this
pragmatic leader had realised that much of the natural, untouched areas
in other countries are disappearing or have vanished at an alarming
rate as a result of conventional logging, the contributing factor to
global climate change and extinction of endangered flora and fauna
species in several continents of the world.
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| Maliau Basin |
The extend of forest
fragmentations caused by the aftermath of human activities such as
deforestation either to extract the timbers for their commercial values
or paving the way for agricultural development projects, is truly beyond
description and had displaced many faunas of their natural habitats.
In
summary, this trend will continue as the world population increases but
the downside is such development that aims at accommodating the
tripling statistics of human beings upon the face of the earth,
especially in countries which depend heavily upon forest productions and
huge scale land clearing for agricultural development for their
economic sustainability, will not render its sympathy for the vital loss
of biodiversity, without which the price that our future generations
will pay may be too high and beyond imagination, Sabah is no exception.
The
fact is the colossal destruction that bled our forests after being
‘Reaped and Raped' repeatedly for commercial purposes either lawfully
and illegally, had drastically affected the entire arteries of many
water catchment areas, rivers and streams particularly in the Interior
Residency of Sabah.
As an example, on April 19, 2010, TV3 showed
an aerial video footage of the murky and polluted Pensiangan River in
Sabah's Interior, as a result of rampant logging.
By natural
process it may possible take a cycle of about 100 years or more to
restore the purity of the river's water in question before it is
suitable for human consumption. Let alone the unbearable biting heat
that we felt during the recent Global Warming caused by an excessive
emission of Carbondioxide (CO2), the main green house gas.
During
the past 50 years, Malaysia's average temperature has risen by 1.1
degree Celcius, which is consistent with the Global temperature, thus
causing abnormal changes in the rainfall patterns that caused more
floods. Based upon recent research, scientists have found that the sea
level is increasing at the rate of 1.25 mm annually, which is truly
alarming!
Factually, the occurrences of those catastrophic
phenomena is the aftermath of humans' own foolishness for having
excessively plundered, exploited and destroyed the forest flora,
eco-system and bio-diversity created by God in pursuit of their
materialistic greed under the guise of development.
In 2000 while
Musa served as a Director of Sabah Foundation, the State owned
organization fought in protest against the idea of mining Maliau for its
coal on commercial basis, thus sparking the ‘Monkey and Gold' debate
The poser was a reference to the Proboscis monkey, found only on the
Island of Borneo.
The debate was mooted by the then Primary
Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Lim Keng Yaik, who pushed for
underground mining of the 200 million tons of Coals discovered within
the Maliau Region around 1988.
The extractable volumes and
quantities of Coals reserve was estimated to have the potential of
coping up with the country's long terms energy requirement for at least
20 years. The later argued that the monkeys can be ‘On Top' and the Coal
‘Underground' as the latest State of Art Mining Techniques or
Technology is currently available in the market nowadays.
It was a
coincidence that the battle scales tipped slightly when Datuk Musa took
the helm of the State Administration as the 14th Chief Minister. In
2003, he stressed firmly that the State Government would not bow to
pressure from any groups intending to carry out operations which are
environmentally sensitive. It was a move believed to have undermined
those of his predecessors.
Apart from the stand on Maliau, the
State Government of the day also put a stop to logging in Ulu Segama and
demarcated a forest buffer zones three times the size of Singapore
aiming at protecting the Danum Valley from the conventional actions of
Logging and Mining.
Paradoxically, No State Governments ever saw
the need nor pushed as hard for such an effort towards implementing the
Policy of Sustainable Forest Management vide my article entitled ‘Solid
Conservation Efforts Only in Last Seven Years' (Daily Express 14th
November 2010)
It was apparently obvious that the present Chief
Minister is determined not to let history repeat under his mantle like
the incredible damage done to the Ulu Segama Forest, during the terms of
his predecessors, who gave their blessing and ‘Green Light' to the
massive & rampant slashing down of 4,000 hectares, which ended up
generating a messy extend of forest fragmentation instead, as described
by many was liken to the ‘Dark Ages', whereby the area in question was
deprived of massive northern buffer zones and being frequently affected
by acid rain fall, which scientists are still trying to assess the long
term effects.
In the words of CM Musa amidst renewed speculation
in 2005 that the Maliau's Coal Deposits would be extracted despite past
assurances "You cannot touch the trees, you cannot cut the trees, don't
talk about mining. As far as we are concerned, we are never going to
mine Maliau Basin. We want it to be classified as a World Heritage
Site."
The State Government is actively seeking and working with
private sectors entities which include Sime Darby, Shell and IKEA as the
means of funding and speeding up conservation initiatives and research
studies.
Just recently in January 2011, Prime Minister Datuk Seri
Najib became the first Malaysian PM ever to visit Maliau Basin and has
expressed his support for the State Government ‘s stand.
"I would support the Chief Minister in getting this place listed as a World Heritage Site."
During
the sojourn, Najib has declared open the Maliau Basin Studies Centre
and witnessed the signing of several memorandum of understanding (MOU)
between local and international groups involved in research studies of
the Sabah rainforests.
Once selected, Maliau Basin would become
the Nation's second World Heritage Site and one of the world's most
significant biological sites. Our first heritage site is Kinabalu Park,
designated by UNESCO in December 2000.
CM Musa was quoted as
saying while accompanying the Prime Minister on that particular visit,
"Development is still crucial for Sabah. I promised Malaysians in Sabah
that the State will reach developed status by 2015. But development does
not mean plunder without thought. A gift like Maliau Basin must be
guarded. The riches that our children inherit cannot just be capital
gain, building and material things. There are some things, capital can
never hope to attain once its lost."
In time to come, the One
Million hectares (10,000 sq km) conservation zones which encompasses the
forest reserves of Malua, Ulu Segama, Danum Valley, Kinabalu Park and
the Maliau Basin respectively are set to form part of the 220,000 sq km
Conservation Zone in the Heart of Borneo (HoB) constituting the East
Malaysian States of Sabah and Sarawak, The Indonesian Territorial
Province of Kalimantan and the Kingdom of Brunei by virtue of The Common
Understanding sealed in 2007.
All Malaysians be they at homes
and abroad and the rest of the world await with held breaths the
successful nomination and listing of the mysterious Maliau Basin as a
World Heritage Site, the journey of discovery that has just barely begun
for this Lost World owes much to those who have played its guardians,
reflecting their authentic commitment and efforts to seriously conserve
the State's invaluable flora and fauna.
How grateful would we be
to see the contributions of our pragmatic leaders playing significant
roles in turning this mission and vision into reality? We will be proud
not merely having the testimony of a World Heritage Site earlier, but
Sabah is part of the entity in the Borneo Conservation Zone that baffled
many scientists with its wealth of biodiversity and varied life forms
waiting to be discovered that is the wonder of the Borneo Paradise.
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