Kota Kinabalu: Warisan President Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said the State Government’s current disaster management, housing relocation and wildlife conservation measures have much room for improvement.
“There are people in Pitas and Kota Marudu who had to wade through floods. There seems no assistance to relocate them earlier,” he said during his walkabout in conjunction with the Chinese New Year celebration in Lido.
“If you can spend a million or two to organise and host festive celebrations, why can’t you spend some money for boats to save our flood victims instead of leaving them to wade through floods.
"There are flood mitigation plans but do not seem to work well and some have yet to be completed. There must be a comprehensive plan to overcome this. I have raised this in Parliament a few months ago.
“There must be enough money to ensure that we cater to the needs of the people and every state when they face disaster to ensure all Malaysians irrespective of where they are in Kelantan, Johor, Sabah or Sarawak,” he said.
On the government’s initiative to relocate squatters, he said it must be done with a sense of empathy especially when it involves Malaysians.
“Do not just issue eviction notices without having alternative sites.
“In fact in my constituency, I have informed the State Government that if they want to relocate these squatters at least provide them with a place, perhaps a rented place, a PPRT or provide a financial system to allow them to pay some deposit for a place to stay.
“If we simply ask them to relocate, where will they sleep? They will end up being squatters in another place. These are Sabahans we are talking about, Malaysians.
“What is the priority? Is to build buildings like the commercial shops in Semporna? I have informed Datuk Seri Dr Joachim Gunsalam, the LPPB housing, do not demolish it and the Kampung Air in Semporna has been there for a long time and has been gazetted as a village.
“I see this as an important matter that needs to be addressed,” he said.
Shafie reiterated there must be a comprehensive and transparent approach in managing the Bornean Elephant Sanctuary rather than opting for privatisation.
“As State Government, we identified 30,000 hectares in Telupid and at that time, the Minister was Datuk Seri Christina Liew. I told her let us have a wildlife sanctuary there.
“I still remember a Japanese named Suraya. He owned the land, a few thousand acres given to the State Government when I was the chief minister.
“He bought the land for a sanctuary to preserve the wild animals. He came to my office and he said ‘Datuk Seri I want to give this land to the State Government. I know you are doing something about it, but please preserve this to make sure that they can house all the wild animals.’
“There are orangutans, elephants, all kinds of animals. When I was young, there were even tigers in Semporna. But when we started planting palm trees even the tigers disappeared. The wildlife are also God-created creatures. We must look after them as well.
“We have the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre administered by the government. So why do you want to privatise the elephant sanctuary?
“It is important to have transparency on how you manage this. There must be proper planning.
“In Kinabatangan, for example, just because you want to address the issue of resorts is it?
“Do you think elephants are only in Kinabatangan? They are also in Lahad Datu, they are also in Kalabakan. But how do you address that? Let’s have a very comprehensive planning to ensure that they can be catered.
“That is why I banned the export of logs. If elephants could speak, perhaps they will tell us not to chop down their food, perhaps if elephants can vote they will vote for Warisan,” he quipped.
He said as chief minister he disallowed cutting of trees, but preserve them. Do not export the logs. Cut the trees based on needs, for furniture, for example. I called Ikea Chief Executive Officer to my office. I told him, I said “I can provide the timber enough for you to produce furniture”
“Also the old millers from Inanam and sawmills from Keningau. I asked Yayasan Sabah how many logs do they need for Seraya wood, red wood, belian to make sure they can produce plywood and many more and after that export these products. I do not want them to export the raw timber.”
