PENAMPANG: Reports that at least five century-old raintrees in Kasigui may have to make way for a road widening project is raising a storm among residents here in social media.A spokesman of the Landscape Department in the Penampang Council said they had not received any directive to chop down the trees as yet.
Some are nostalgic about the trees whose overarching branches have not just provided shade for generations of people in the area but also gave Kasigui its laid-back character. Others felt it was okay if the trees had to be sacrificed for the sake of development
An eatery operator at the Kasigui market, Ronny Ting, said: “We are ready to be relocated to a new area if we receive the order from the authority.”
Bernard Lo who hoped to see Penampang progress said he had no qualms about the trees being chopped down if for the sake of development.
“To progress, we need to sacrifice, so in this case we need to get rid of the trees. So what is there to make noise about as the trees can be replanted,” he said.
He said the implementation of the project would ease the congestion from Inobong to Donggongon town.
Aerial view of Kasigui
A resident who wanted to be known as Peter suggested that the road designer of the project think outside the box.
“Instead of chopping down the trees, perhaps we can create an island to save the trees which is also synonymous to Kasigui,” he said.
Moyog Assemblyman Datuk Darrel Leiking said the planners should strike a balance between development and environment.
“It is important to bring development for the benefit of the people but at the same time we also need to look after their sensitivities,” said Darrel. He suggested the engineers divert the direction of the proposed road in order to save the trees.
Political Secretary to Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative Minister Datuk Ewon Benedick, Carl Moosom said the people had to accept the reality that in order to bring development, sometimes we have to make an unpopular decision.
He cited Kuala Lumpur which had been developed rapidly over time to meet the increasing population needs.
“In Sabah, we don’t want to go through such a scenario like Kuala Lumpur. Our ideas are to prepare the basic infrastructure for the people to come in,” said Carl.
Another said translocating the trees should be an option with the cost included in the overall budget for the project. One tree lover said the raintrees are part of our heritage and should be saved at all costs. He recalled that there was a huge uproar when raintrees were targeted for removal at the Muis complex and at the town padang.
“In both cases, a balance was struck. The Muis raintree that is huge and stands until today may be 200 years old. Care was taken to only trim the branches of the bigger one back in the mid 1980s although another younger tree had to go.
“While in the town padang some were removed when the grandstand was made in the 1990s and new ones planted as a replacement. As a result the place still had their raintrees and I remember a report in the Daily Express many years ago where a landscape expert in the then Kota Kinabalu Municipal Council commented that a raintree that was 100 years old was easily worth around RM700,000. One wonder what it may cost now 30 years later.”
Lee, a nature lover, said raintrees are a prominent feature in all places wherever colonised by the British, whether in Fiji, India, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or here for that matter.
“There is a reason why the British made it a point to plant these trees in every district. Besides giving shade, they provided a natural ideal setting for Tamus and which helped foster unity.
“When people from far away came for the tamus under these trees, it also provided a great opportunity for the colonial administrators to find out about security and development in the interior and station personnel accordingly.
“It was for both economic and political reasons and these trees served the purpose.”
Lee noticed that many of the raintrees that were removed in the city were never replanted and that City Hall should look into planting them at appropriate spots in view of increasingly hot weather.
He said the raintree at the end of Gaya Street fronting HongKong Bank was perhaps the last remaining tree of a row that once lined Gaya Street (formerly Bond Street) before the war.
