The government has no immediate plan to amend existing laws in imposing heavier penalties upon illegal loggers.
Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan believed that the focus should be on intensifying the enforcement, adding that related agencies including the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had been directed to beef up their enforcement beats in curbing rising cases of illegal logging in the state.
“We admit that the situation is very worrying but at the moment, the penalties that we have under existing laws are sufficient. What is required are intensified and integrated enforcement programmes to book the culprits,” he said after launching the Lawas Bike Week (LBW) programme at Kampung Punang yesterday.
Does Awang Tengah or the government care about catching illegal loggers in the state? If they really cared they would have arrested chief logging thief Taib Mahmud and his cronies a long time ago. Of course the government is against amending laws giving higher penalties to illegal loggers as this could impact the business of certain government cronies.
Take the situation in Baram last week. Indigenous activists were up in arms when gun wielding police camped out at the Baram Dam blockade in support of loggers rather than the communities who have rights to their native lands. And what of our recent expose into illegal logging by Isotimber Sdn Bhd and Roundtree Group in Julau. Will KTS be punished for their activities?
Looks like it’s empty promises from Tengah once again.