By William Isau
SIBU, May 15: More than 50 unlicensed swiftlet house owners in the region have lost their source of income as they have been told by Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) to stop operations.
A group of them staged a peaceful demonstration at Medan Commercial Centre, Jalan Wong King Huo today appealing to the government to look into their predicament.
Among them were swiftlet house owners from Sibu, Pulau Bruit, Tatau, Bintangor, Sarikei, Mukah, Kanowit, Durin, Selangau, and Song.
According to a banner carried by the demonstrators, a number of them who are Dayak do not have funds to celebrate Gawai as they could not harvest and sell their bird’s nests to traders.
The ban was enforced after four licensed bird’s nest traders at Medan Commercial Centre 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 for buying bird’s nests from illegal sources.
A total of 882.657kg of bird’s nests, worth approximately RM2.5 million were seized in the operation.
Following the operation, all licensed traders involved in the buying and selling of bird’s nests in Sarawak were also told to suspend operations.
Unlicensed swiftlet house owners were also affected as they could not harvest and sell their bird’s nests.
The demonstrating group’s spokesman, Victor Ting, said their livelihoods have been greatly affected by the ban.
“With Gawai round the corner, the affected Dayak will have a bleak celebration as their source of income has been affected by the ban,” he said.
Ting said Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998 is too rigid where a licence is needed from the wildlife controller for swiftlet houses to operate.
“In West Malaysia and Labuan, swiftlets are no longer listed under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 [Act 716]. Thus, a licence is not required from the Wildlife Department and National Parks. But the opposite is happening in Sarawak,” he explained.
Ting said Sarawak’s law on the matter needs to be revised in line with Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 [Act 716] as there is a big number of swiftlet houses in rural areas here.
“There are about 20,000 swiftlet houses in the region but less than 500 of them have been granted licences. They have applied for the licence but were not approved,” he said. — DayakDaily
