SIBU, May 10: Bird nest traders are appealing to the authorities to lift the suspension order on the product, as it is affecting their livelihood.
A licensed trader, Wong Chu Kion, told at a press conference today that due to the suspension ordered by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), they could not conduct business until further notice.
Wong is one of the four bird nest traders here who were arrested in a joint operation under Operasi Bersepadu Khazanah involving the SFC Sibu team and Marine Police Force of Zone 5 on May 3.
A total of 882.657kg of the nests, worth approximately RM2.5 million, were seized in the operation.
They were released after giving their statement at Sungai Merah Police Station. They had also lodged a police report after that, complaining that their products were seized in the operation even though they were licensed traders.
“Everybody in the region who is in this business is affected including their workers. We were not informed by SFC when we could resume business and this is very worrying to us,” he said.
He said the four of them were told by SFC that they had bought the nests from an illegal source, which in this case, were the owners of the homes where the bird nests originated from.
“The issue here is that they have applied for the license for between five to 10 years but have not been successful. We hope assemblymen will hold a dialogue with SFC to solve this issue as the livelihood of several thousands of people are affected by this 25-year-old law which is already outdated.
“The law needs to be updated similar to Peninsular Malaysia, where commercial bird nest farming needs no license,” he said.
A kilogramme of processed bird’s nest is marketed at RM6,000. Unprocessed ones are sold for between RM1,500 and RM3,000 depending on their condition. — DayakDaily
