Kota Kinabalu: Swiss tourists on a pre-dawn cruise into Sungei Tenaggang to see the Proboscis monkeys on July 28 were horrified when they noticed long thick columns of black palm oil effluents snaking their way into the Kinabatangan.It was an indication that things are worsening by the day in the nation's richest wildlife destination and which would have grave implications on not just the wildlife there that depend on the water source but also Sabah's billion-ringgit tourism industry.Ironically, the massive discharge came just a week after Plantations and Commodity Minister Tan Sri Bernard Dompok led a high-powered corps of Ministry officers and CEOs from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board and Malaysian Palm Oil Council on a fact finding trip regarding effluent treatment and control in the lower Kinabatangan.
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Mill consultants did their best to convince Dompok that treatment of effluent down to 20 PPM was "too expensive" but downstream villagers have cried foul for years that the mills conveniently made them "pay" for that "too expensive" cost, in terms of loss of clean drinking water and fisheries."Our group was only one of more than a dozen boats that went into the same river that morning," said Tham Yau Kong, Managing Director of TYK Adventure Tours."That means hundreds of tourists witnessed this open destruction but who cares attitude. Both State and Federal tourism authorities promote it as a must-see wildlife experience, Sepa talks endlessly about environmental protection, tour operators take eager eco-tourists only to shock them with what the oil palm industry does," Tham said.Apparently this state of affairs had been happening for some time.
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David Tseu, who managed Myne Resort, Bilit, between July and late October 2011, said an oily and black Tenaggang river is nothing new."It was always black and oily when I was manager of Myne Resort , when I returned with tourists in December 2011, in March and in May this year," Tseu said.
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"I know it's oil because oil floats and every time after we have driven our boats through this black stuff, we get thick oil slick sticking to the sides of our boats ," said Tseu, who has since opted to be a free-lance tour guide based in Kota Kinabalu. "I used to love to bring guests at our lodge into Sungei Tenaggang because it has the most wildlife - proboscis monkeys, pygmy elephants (used to be Sumatran rhino, too), monkeys, birds - oriental darters, kingfishers, eagles, you name it, all of which rely on the river for food. But how Sabah expects this rich cargo of wildlife to survive this wanton pollution into the future, I don't know," Tseu said.Tseu said he personally witnessed unsuspecting Proboscis monkeys suffer at the hands of palm oil mill effluents."I have seen many dive into the river and come out black - literally wrapped with palm oil effluents. I have also seen proboscis struggling to keep themselves afloat while swimming across palm oil mill effluent- infested rivers," Tseu claimed."If you don't see the black effluents every day, then it's every other day or every third day," Tseu said, and lamented the self-denial mode of the authorities."Our guests always complained, they wonder why we seem to do nothing and why the Government doesn't do anything to crack the whip. But I have seen a report on a study on the Kinabatangan that says the river is not polluted. It is obvious to every body that it is polluted ," Tseu said. "The big two attraction of the Kinabatangan - Proboscis and the Pygmy elephants - both love water. One loves to dive and swim across, while the elephant loves to play into river but they don't have clean rivers any more to come out clean and refreshed ," Tham noted.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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