Last Updated: 7:05am, Jan 20, 2014

SIK, KEDAH (Jan 20): The worker at a timber camp stares into the forest where he used to forage for edible leaves while a mechanic works on his lorry parked next to a river.

It is Shahril Md Isa's day off by default because it is raining, so logging activities are put on hold for the day.

A Sik local, Shahril, 24, has no choice but to accept that there is money in the forest and it had to be logged.

“I myself started working with a timber company because it paid well. I work every day from 8am to 6pm. It has been two years and I don’t think I will leave to find work in the towns,” he said.

Shahril works with SBB Northern Trading, a contractor for Chek Seng Trading that holds the licence to log 60ha of the forest in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve in Sik.

Chek Seng, headquartered in Alor Setar, has been in the logging business since 1988 while SBB began in 2003.

According to the records of the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM), these companies have subsisted through several Kedah governments including the PAS-led administration between 2008 and 2013.

But why haven’t they stopped after the 2013 government takeover by Barisan Nasional (BN), when the new Menteri Besar Datuk Paduka Mukhriz Mahathir called for a halt to logging?

“Yes, I heard about it but I don't know why it didn't stop. We have continued working,” Shahril said. He estimates that about 200 tonnes of meranti, merbau, keruing, and gerutu with girths more than 12.5 inches are transported out the forest daily.

“But the forests have thinned now. There are not many big trees like before,” he rued.

On May 18 last year, Mukhriz ordered a cease on logging in Kedah while a study on the environment and people’s livelihood was carried out.

Prior to the 13th general election, Mukhriz and other Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders and the media had attacked the late former Kedah menteri besar Tan Sri Azizan Abdul Razak and his administration for its relentless appetite for logging to sustain the state government.

The lure of quick revenue from logging is a double-edged sword for any government that relies on it.

On the one hand, money is needed to sustain the government and on the other, forest clearing has evidently altered landscapes and climate, affecting communities.

For Kedah, known as the rice bowl state, agriculture was its biggest revenue-generator, but logging has become a sure-fire way to fill the state coffers.

It required no construction and high technology, used minimal resources and time, and furthermore does not involve human resettlement.

During the tenure of the PAS government, reports indicated that logging had cushioned the budget of the allegedly cash-strapped Kedah government.

By 2013, open competitive tenders issued by the government to selected logging contractors helped the state to increase its revenue from RM8 million in 2008 to RM80 million.

In fact, Azizan was once quoted as saying that, `we (Kedah government) have to log because we are poor’ as one of the reasons why the state doggedly went ahead with the activity despite its destructive effects.

In one of Azizan’s ambitious plans, the state alleged wanted to log some million trees in water catchment areas of the Muda, Pedu and Ahning dams.

If the project had taken off, Kedah would have raked in a bounty of about RM16 billion from its premiums.

Declaring that `timber was God’s gift’, Azizan found no problem in making money from it and said that one should not `obsessed’ about preserving the forest.

He later accused the federal government of failing to honour an agreement made during former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s tenure to pay Kedah RM100 million annually for keeping its forests intact.

The amount was actually cited in a 2003 decision made by the federal government as `compensation’ after it shot down then Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Syed Razak Syed Zain Barakbah’s proposal to conduct heli-logging on 122,798ha in Ulu Muda.

The concession was given to WTK Holdings Sdn Bhd and Yayasan Islam Negeri Kedah but the project failed after an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study revealed that negative impacts would result in the water catchment area.

Since the compensation was never paid out even after two government terms, Azizan proposed as an alternative a 400ha agro-tourism project in Charok Batang Padi, in Pedu.

This required the land to be cleared first.

The project began but was stopped when Barisan Nasional wrested the state back last year.

Thus, Mukhriz’ announcement to halt logging as part of his election pledge, was a triumph for Kedahans and welcomed by environmentalists.

He reportedly said Kedah had enough logging activities and it must look for other income sources, famously adding that to him `a tree is worth more standing than felled’.

But a Jan 9 trip this year by fz.com to a logging site near Kampung Landai and along the Trans Eastern Kedah Inter Highway belied the announcement.

When contacted, a Kedah Forestry Department ranger who covered Sik and Jeniang admitted that logging had never stopped in the Ulu Muda forests.

“The clearing has been ongoing since 2006, with logging permits renewed twice every year. We ensure that the companies comply with the forestry laws,” he said.

He added that the villagers were not affected by the activities because the nearest village, Kampung Gulau was 16km away.

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) researcher Shamsul Ery Shamsuddin said though he was baffled that logging did not stop, he said not all of Ulu Muda was banned from such activities.

"The parts which the villagers in Kampung Landai talk about could be part of the production forest that is allowed under the forestry law. Although the status of the land is forest reserve, logging is still allowed," he said.

The contention over logging whether illegal or otherwise in Ulu Muda has also been over the erosion and pollution that could affect the quality of water of rivers and streams.

As there are three dams in the area, the need to preserve the water catchment areas is obvious.

Water from the rivers not only served Kedah for consumption and irrigation of padi fields, but also supplied Perlis and Penang.

Water royalty disputes began during the tenure of former Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Mahadzir Khalid (2005 to 2008), who requested that Penang pay for the water drawn from Sungai Muda, and continues till today.

Azizan and later Mukhriz carried on the demand to elicit RM10 million from the Penang government because both the Kedah officials argued that the source of Sungai Muda originated from there.

The 178km-long Sungai Muda begins in Ulu Muda, meandering through Baling, Sik, Kulim and through Penang before it empties into the Northern Straits.

While Penang has refused to entertain the request citing riparian water rights and because Kedah does not provide treated water to justify the demand for royalty, it however agreed to fight alongside the government to seek for the RM100 million compensation from the federal government to stop logging.

This way, Penang claimed, the forest will be protected and the quality of Sungai Muda water would remain safe and pristine.

On the surface, state governments seemingly aim to protect the environment. Yet, the sad truth is that logging continues daily for money needs to be made and coffers need to be filled - but all this is at the expense of the environment and the people.

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