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MANY people say Sabah has some of the best environmental laws in the world. But cynics also say these laws are toothless tigers, a bud of jokes because every body can disregard them, with no consequence.

They cite the Sabah Land Ordinance on riparian reserves.

Everyone flouts it with no fear of punishment, the cynics charge.

That's largely true, for decades. But watch it, though with some healthy trepidation.

A recent riparian infringement incurred an unusual fury of a strong Government Officer who decided to use a full-blown power of his legal mandate.

And what happened was quite a fearsome sight to watch.

In that drama, a fuming Director of Forestry, Datuk Sam Mannan caught an oil palm estate contractor red handed cutting riparian reserve logs to build a workers' quarters.

Without hesitation, he ordered his staff to set a bon fire to destroy the illegal 'kongsi' and fined the offender RM5,000 per tree cut!

Mannan's fiery stunt stunned the 1,000-strong international delegates attending the 9th Annual Global Roundtable Meeting on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), when he showed them a video clip how he executed his wrath against the riparian law breaker, on Nov 24, 2011, during delivery of his concluding oration, at the Sutera Magellan Resort.

The bold action is actually a sobering reminder of the power vested in Government, when it decides to use it to safeguard the State's natural resources, public interest or public security.

Government bashers often forget that when warranted, it has all the power at its disposal to sentence people to death, for murder or drug trafficking, for instance, through due process in the judiciary, of course.

So, it's wise to respect that power by always giving its laws due regard.

Apparently, Mannan invoked the power given to the Office of the Director of Forestry Department, under the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap 68) on river and seashore reserves, and ridges of hills, Section 26 (1) & (2) which reads as follows.

Unless otherwise expressly provided in any title, the entire property in and control of the waters of all rivers, creeks, streams and water courses, and of the seashore below the high water mark is and shall be vested solely in the Government.

The Government also has the power to reserve such portion of land as may be deemed advisable along the banks of rivers, streams or creeks, or along the seashore above high water mark, or along the ridges of hills.

Such reservations shall be shown on all documents of title.

The word 'advisable' is interesting because the daily foraging range of proboscis monkey is 700 etres.

So for the permanent comservation of that monkey, it is advisable to give them 700m riparian reserve.

Punitive consequence against riparian reserve timber thief

Interestingly, Mannan's Oration was entitled 'The Oil Palm Industry of Sabah: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,' a vivid reminder of a top of the chart pop hit so named, in the late 60s.

On the good, Mannan paid oil palm its deserved tribute.

"That's the good but I really think you want to hear about the bad," he said.

And he cited a long list of it.

But they must confront the 'bad' and the 'ugly' before the wrath of the law comes down hard on irresponsible behaviour, non-performance and endless denials of wrong doings.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am unable to decouple these two and therefore have chosen to put them together. They are twins - the bad and the ugly.

So, what's so bad and ugly?" he asked.

"Greed and shortcuts drive irresponsible behaviour," Mannan said.

"Let us watch this video which explains it best," he told the crowd.

"From time to time, I prefer this type of justice (setting fire to a kongsi built with illegal timber from a riparian forest), where it is warranted," Mannan commented.

"We are going to tell a little story how this came about and what we are going to do about it," he said.

The video started with clips on bits of timber which had been chainsaw cut.

"Well see later on where this timber actually originated from," he said.

The video showed scenes with Mannan identifying where he was :" We are right in the middle of a riparian reserve on one side of the river and that river there is called Sungei Imbak."

The camera follows Mannan stopping and pointing to a big tree stump.

"This tree is locally known as Seraya Majau and the scientific name is Shorea johorensis, a very important dipterocarp tree which was growing next to the river," Mannan noted in the video.

"Now this was the source of the timber that was used to make that kongsi or workers' quarters.

You can still see bits and pieces of timber been cut with the chainsaw. It was the convenient way for the contractor who was appointed to develop this land to get timber as near as possible to the place they were setting up the buildings and so on," Mannan commented in the video.

"But this is totally illegal. It not only damages the environment, but also brings a bad reputation to the oil palm industry. The forest where he extracted the timber is clearly marked 'Riparian Reserve'," Mannan pointed out.

"And what have we done with these people? We have penalised them - RM5,000 per tree.

But that's not much of a compensation and we'll show you later what we are going to do to the building that was put up from timber cut from this corridor of life," he narrated in the video.

As the video showed the building, Mannan said:" This illegal timber was sourced from the stump that we saw along the riparian reserve (of Sungei Imbak). We'll show you in a minute what we are going to do with this," Manan narrated further.

The next scene showed Forestry Department staff lighting fire.

"This is the start of the bon fire, this is the quickest and easiest way to destroy illegal buildings," Mannan narrated.

"This is what we call ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

Sometimes, we simply have to be cruel in order to be kind," he said.

Needs, values of society far outweigh those of law breakers

"The action we have taken is to protect the interest, the needs and the values of society at large which far outweighs the needs and values of those who go against the law," Mannan made that punch line statement which summarizes the spirit and intent of Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap 68), Section 26 (1) & (2).

"Well, that's a bit of a drama and a bit of Taliban in me," he said.

"Let us leave this to history whether what we have done is correct or otherwise.

But action must be taken," Mannan added.

"Such actions are not popular with some people and the accusation include cruelty amongst other praises," he noted.

"The purpose is not to punish or kill É but to improve behaviour and performance," Mannan explained what he called "the big picture goal" which addresses the central concern of this age - sustainability.

The liquidation of riparian reserves is part of a rampant forest reserve encroachment, Mannan noted.

"Our statistics show that 40,000 hectares of forest reserves in Sabah have been encroached by oil palm,' he said.

"Today we have achieved some 20,000ha at considerable costs and energy to have them rehabilitated under forests again," Mannan pointed out.

"We have done 10,000ha of destruction of oil palm (in forest reserves), we have 30,00 ha to go," he said.

"And at RM4000- 5000 per hectare, this adds up to about RM100 million for the first phase of our rehabilitation," Mannan told the RSPO delegates.

Communicate honesty, truth and facts to move Sabah forward: Mannan

What does Mannan's brutal honesty show?

Irresponsible behaviour in land use is costing Sabah huge repair bills.

Worse, speaking on what he called his 'Favorite subject: Orangutan and oil palm development - Is it compatible?

" Habitat loss definitely results in the collapse and even local extinction of this species. "

"This is particularly evident in the 1990s during the height of the oil palm cultivation boom when the statistics show the peak of orphans brought into the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre between 1990 to 2000, coincided with the massive oil palm development here in Sabah."

"There is this direct correlation between the scale of development and the number of Orangutan orphans brought in," Mannan pointed out.

Yet, this is how the industry usually communicate - endless denials, Mannan noted, saying that constantly communicating non-facts, non-truths in a defensive manner is regressive, not progressive, underscoring the need for honest communication.

"If we cannot communicate effectively, then the battle is lost before we even start."

"We argue that the deforestation of the East Coast of Sabah in particular does not affect Orangutan."

"If the industry continues to argue that oil palm never means deforestation, it never means loss of wildlife habitat, it never means loss of biodiversity, then the industry will continue to fight a maligned public perception," Mannan said.

That is, barking at the wrong tree.

Coming: Reclaiming riparian reserves

FOC to clean up Sabah's rivers

The truth is 95 per cent of the oil palm plantations have cleared the riparian reserves along the rivers, creeks and streams in their plantations, a two-year State commissioned study carried out by Envsolve on the Impact of Oil Palm Plantations, Palm Oil Mills, Sand Mining and Settlements on the Water Quality of Rivers in the East Coast, has found.

As a result of near complete loss of these natural filters or riparian reserves the water quality in major rivers like Segama, Segaliud, Muanad, Kalumpang and Pang Burong are saturated with suspended solids or turbidity five times higher than Class 1 status rivers, in addition to high levels of health harming heavy metals such as manganese, zinc and iron, banned pesticides, excessive levels of chemical fertilizers which have caused death of aquatic life due to serious eutrophication, the study attributed..

Like Datuk Sam Mannan, Faizal Parish, a member of the Study team, said any plantation which have planted oil palm in the riparian reserves, including those of small streams, have done so "illegally" and the Government has all the right to take these riparian reserves back without compensation, citing the Sabah Land Ordinance (Cap 68).

Since Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun has acknowledged pollution of Sabah's rivers have got "out of hands" and vowed to cleaned them up, Mannan has set a loud precedence by invoking the power of the State under the 1968 Sabah Land Ordinance.

If no action is taken, all the rivers of Sabah can end up like the smelly, black filthy Sembulan River, where even crocodiles cannot survive, Masidui once joked.