THE ‘close one eye’ saga over illegal sawn timber imports at the Sungai Rambai barter trade port should sound more than one alarm.  

The alleged power abuse by a Member of Parliament aside, the debacle raised questions over the source of timber that feeds the country’s mills. 

Jasin MP Mohd Said Yusof justified his interference in the enforcement work of the Customs Department as for the sake of securing supplies for the timber industry.  

In recent years, Malaysia has gained a rogue reputation for laundering Indonesian timber either by re-exporting them as sawn timber or funnelling the illegal logs to local mills.  

The government responded to Indonesia’s request to assist in controlling its alarming illegal deforestation by banning the import of round logs in 2002 and then restricting the import of sawn timber to those below 60cm circumference a year later.  

Rampant logging has led to siltation that pollutes Sungai Gadong at the Temenggor Forest Reserve in Perak. – Pix by the MALAYSIAN NATURE SOCIETY

Peninsular Malaysia’s reliance on imported sawn timber has grown steadily: from 180,780 cubic metres cu m in 1995 to 665,301 cu m in 2004.  

Sustainable forest management has been incorporated in the National Forestry Policy since the 1970s. Each state is recommended to set aside permanent forest estates (PFE) and implement selective felling to ensure a sustainable log flow, besides retaining sufficient forest cover. 

Despite constants claim by the authorities that logging is conducted on a sustainable basis, all is not well with the country’s forestry management and production. 

The latest Forestry Statistics Peninsular Malaysia (2004) lists declining supplies to log, sawn timber, plywood, mouldings, veneer and blockboard mills over the last decade. This corresponds with the decline in sawn timber production from 5.592 million cu m in 1995 to 3.199 million cu m in 2004.  

Ideally, with sustainable logging practices, a logged-over area would be ready for the next round of harvesting based on an average 25-year rotation system. Trees below the cut-limit that were spared the chainsaw back then would have reached the commercial size thus ensuring healthy log production.  

A Forestry Development Fund was created as required by the National Forestry Act 1984 whereby cess was collected from logging licensees to finance reforestation.  

“If indeed we have been practising sustainable forestry, why do we need to import? Why are we not able to sustain supplies?” asked a forestry researcher. 

To date, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) has issued sustainable forest management certificates for 4,674,825ha in Pahang, Selangor, Terengganu, Johor, Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, and Kelantan. 

The researcher said the scheme was misleading as the sustainable regime only applied to production forests in the PFE.  

Unlike in Sarawak where the first MTCC certificate was issued to one “forest management unit” (FMU) covering 55,949ha in the Se’laan-Linau complex in Upper Baram, in the peninsula, each state is considered as one FMU which technically means that all harvesting regimes are regarded as sustainable. 

“Logging outside the PFE is mostly clear-felling as these involve land conversion for agricultural and other development needs. Even within the PFE, we often hear about illegal logging and unscrupulous licensees stealing timber beyond their allocations. Sustainable forestry is very much a farce,” he concluded. 

The researcher also noted that only 67 of Perak’s 91 registered sawmills are operating. “The jobs will disappear as the forests disappear.” In fact, the number of workers in Perak’s wood-based industries has been halved in the last 10 years – from 7,990 in 1995 to 4,198 in 2004.  

An industry veteran from Johor pointed out that sawmilling, the first user of logs and an indicator of the level of supplies, is a sunset industry. 

“Sawmills are not operating on a daily basis as we simply cannot get enough logs,” said Soo Lip Hong, vice president of the Johor Wood Industries Association. Johor has 58 sawmills in operation as of 2004. 

He said sawmillers supported the government’s reforestation plan but were let down as the policy was not implemented effectively. 

In 1990, the government imposed an export levy and quota on sawmills. The levy goes into the Forestry Development Fund to pay for reforestation.  

In 1995, Soo demanded that the Ministry of Primary Industries lift the levy as replanting did not happen as pledged. Representing the Johor Sawmillers Association then, he criticised the ministry for misusing RM63mil – contributed by Johor sawmillers over five years – to purchase 12 levels of the 21-storey Menara PGRM in Selangor to house the Malaysian Timber Council (MTC) and Malaysian Timber Industry Board.  

Soo said since its establishment in 1992, the MTC had used the fund to counter the anti-tropical timber campaign which was largely targeting Sarawak, and the organisation has paid little attention to reforestation in the peninsula. The government subsequently lifted the levy in May 1998, partly due to the financial crisis. 

Soo said state governments failed to heed federal policies on sustainable forestry, being more interested in revenues generated from timber-based industries.  

For example, new sawmilling licences continued to be issued as recent as 2004 despite the prevailing log shortage. He said this might encourage sawmillers to acquire illegally-sourced timber. 

He also lamented the lack of vision among state governments in encouraging plantation forestry as logged land was quickly converted for development projects that brought in quick money.  

The Forestry Department declined to comment on the effectiveness of the sustainable forestry management and the delay in developing the plantation scheme. – By Hilary Chiew