Published on: Friday, May 19, 2006 |
Kota Kinabalu: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Sabah wants the Government to maintain the existing policy of "no resorts" on Sipadan with the aim of protecting the island's natural environment and marine eco-system.
In this context, its Deputy Chairperson Christina Liew said the RM5 million tourism project on Sipadan should be cancelled and claimed that the damage to the corals by a contractor would not have happened had there been transparency.
"Has there been a change of policy on the part of the State Government in environmental conservation of the island within two years of its earlier decision?
"Why do it quietly when you change your policy?" she told a press conference, Thursday. "When a decision was made to demolish the old structures, it was publicly announced.
"It is the change of policy that the public is unhappy about. I have received numerous calls from the public. If the Prime Minister could cancel the 'bridge project' the same could be done for the tourism facility project on Sipadan.
"You are killing the goose that lays the golden egg," she said, adding that "even if the State Government had changed its policy within two years on Sipadan we would expect them to at least use environmentally-friendly building materials such as timber and not concrete so as to blend with the natural environment."
Liew said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Hj Aman should explain the Government's present stand on the island.
On May 16 (Tuesday), FiNS Magazine associate editors Andrea and Antonella Ferrari took pictures of a giant barge and damaged corals while diving at Sipadan and posted them on the Internet.
The incident took place on May 15 (Monday). "The barge's flat steel hull wiped corals away like a steel giant knife slicing through butter, leaving in its wake hundreds of square metres of unnaturally flat limestone and a veritable wall of corals and debris piled up against the beach," they said.
"I was shocked, puzzled and upset to read the news. I felt ashamed to have to read it on the Internet. The whole world knows what has happened," said Liew.
"It is even sadder that the incident was not reported first by local enforcement agencies or media but by concerned foreigners via the Internet, shedding light on the inefficient management of Sipadan."
She recalled that when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared in 2002 that Malaysia is the legal owner of Sipadan and Ligitan, the Government vowed to do their best to conserve and preserve the two islands from being over-commercialised by tourists and divers.
Showing reporters copies of media reports on the Government's previous decision, Liew said: "What happened to the State Government's motion that it will not budge from its decision to get resort dive operators on Sipadan to remove all structures and move out by 31 December 2004? The operators were kicked out only to bring in new ones. Is there a hidden agenda?"
Welcoming Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat's order to Sabah Parks to immediately carry out an investigation, Liew said the findings must be made public.
The State Government, she said, must be seen to be taking serious action on those officers failing in their duty to safeguard the island's environment. "Clearly, an effective monitoring system to prevent encroachment is lacking."
More importantly, Liew said, the Government must take action against the contractor who caused serious damage to the reefs.
"The contractor's disregard to the Minister's directive to use the kumpit (boat) only must not be treated likely. The culprit must be charged in court for destroying the environment."
On Managing Director of Borneo Divers, Clement Lee's statement that though the corals have been damaged, it is not the end of the world because they can be restored, she said he failed to mention that such restoration would not happen in his lifetime.
"It will perhaps take a few hundred years."
