By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, March 17: Mulu assemblyman Dato Gerawat Gala said he would meet up with the private company that has been accused of continuing with logging and land clearing activities near Gunung Mulu despite been told to put all activities on hold pending investigation.
He expressed surprise that the oil palm company continued with their operations when it had been told not to do so until a resolution was reached.
“I will talk to the company. It should not proceed with the activities until there is a resolution to the situation,” he told DayakDaily today.
Gerawat revealed the Sarawak government had ordered all relevant departments to go to the ground and submit reports on the real situation.
“We have asked the company to stop (logging) pending an investigation by all the relevant departments. These departments will do ground inspections and later to report their findings to the Resident.
“I am supposed to meet him (Resident) on Tuesday about the report,” said Gerawat, who is also Deputy State Assembly Speaker.
Gerawat was responding to the protest by Mulu United Land Action (MULA)’s claim that logging operations by a private company continued near the Gunung Mulu Unesco World Heritage site.
The Berawan, Tering and Penan communities in the area demanded the operations to be stopped immediately and heavy machinery removed from the area.
Their spokesperson, Willie Kajan, said in a press statement today that the local community leaders had confronted a worker recently. The worker claimed he was merely maintaining the road but later admitted that he was instructed by his supervisor to continue bulldozing trees on Berawan, Tering and Penan land.
Willie claimed that thousands of trees had been felled illegally on the land, and they could be seen lying on the ground.
The plight of the Mulu Berawan, Tering and Penan communities near Gunung Mulu first surfaced last month. The Sarawak government intervened and ordered the deforestation activities to be stopped pending investigation.— DayakDaily
