KUCHING, Aug 13: All state and federal enforcement agencies must consult the Sarawak Forest Department before issuing media statements on the success of their operations with regards to the Forest Ordinance 2015.
Sarawak Forest Department director Datu Hamden Mohammad said agencies will need to obtain confirmation on the status of a catch while locations, logging activities and values of seizures can only be issued by the department.
He said the enforcement of the Forest Ordinance 2015 is referred to the Term of Reference (TOR) agreed with the State Illegal Logging Task Force chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.
This announcement was made to related agencies following the discovery that several media statements issued to the public were inaccurate.
“Recently, it has been found that several state and federal agencies involved in the enforcement of the Forest Ordinance 2015 have issued statements on the success of operations carried out under this ordinance.
“However, there are media statements issued that are inaccurate to the point that concerned certain stakeholders,” said Hamden in a statement today.
He added that this regulation was put in place to avoid contradictory and untrue media statements which could affect the image and reputation of the State government in its effort to develop the timber industry and combat illegal logging. — DayakDaily
