http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/5/8/southneast/3836611&sec=southneast
Friday May 8, 2009
The Kelabit community showing great potential, says Alfred
KUCHING: The Kelabit community has proven that they are not lagging behind in the development of human capital with many taking up important posts in the private and government sectors although it is a minority group in Sarawak, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Alfred Jabu said.
According to him, the records showed that the community with a population of only 6,500 statewide, had churned out many graduates from tertiary institutions in the country and abroad.
“Their willingness to try, work hard as well as emphasis on positive values and education have shaped them into the outstanding community that they are,” he said at the Rurum Kelabit Excellence Awards 2009 ceremony here.
He expressed his pride in the Kelabit community because of their healthy lifestyle and not taking part in activities like rooster fighting, gambling and drinking and their ability to contribute to the country’s development.
“However, the Bario highlands in Miri were becoming lonely with more of the younger generation moving to the city to further their studies, marking the end of their tradition of living in longhouses,” he said.
Last year, 45 Kelabit students received awards for excellence in the UPSR, PMR, SPM and STPM examinations. — Bernama
Friday, May 8, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
The Star Online
Friday April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation wants to open links between Bario Highlands, Long Akah (in the northern region) and Belaga (upper Rejang basin), where the liberation of Sarawak from the Japanese Occupation forces started.
Its Heritage Development committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the move would help rekindle the spirit of the struggle for peace and nation-building.
”It is a tribute to the veterans of the war,” he said when welcoming an Australian delegation at the Batu Lintang Wartime Heritage site yesterday.
Delegation members from the Australian-New Zealand Army Corp included relatives of former Australian prisoners of war. They later laid wreaths at a Heroes Grave Monument.
Lim said the Borneo campaign to liberate Sarawak was launched in May 1945. Two weeks earlier, special British and Australian commandos were air-dropped into the mountainous interiors of the Bario Highlands.
The Japanese forces surrendered on Aug 15, 1945.
Lim said the proposed liberation trail would enable young Malaysians and Australians to experience the heritage, learn jungle survival skills and promote cultural exchanges.
Friday April 17, 2009
Liberation trail to mark sacrifices
KUCHING: The Sarawak Tourism Federation wants to open links between Bario Highlands, Long Akah (in the northern region) and Belaga (upper Rejang basin), where the liberation of Sarawak from the Japanese Occupation forces started.
Its Heritage Development committee chairman Lim Kian Hock said the move would help rekindle the spirit of the struggle for peace and nation-building.
”It is a tribute to the veterans of the war,” he said when welcoming an Australian delegation at the Batu Lintang Wartime Heritage site yesterday.
Delegation members from the Australian-New Zealand Army Corp included relatives of former Australian prisoners of war. They later laid wreaths at a Heroes Grave Monument.
Lim said the Borneo campaign to liberate Sarawak was launched in May 1945. Two weeks earlier, special British and Australian commandos were air-dropped into the mountainous interiors of the Bario Highlands.
The Japanese forces surrendered on Aug 15, 1945.
Lim said the proposed liberation trail would enable young Malaysians and Australians to experience the heritage, learn jungle survival skills and promote cultural exchanges.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/2/8/nation/3223025&sec=nation
Sunday February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: First, it was a food shortage. Now tens of thousands of flood victims in interior Sarawak are running out of diesel, petrol and cooking gas.
Diesel and petrol stocks have dried up in places like Bario and Ba’kelalan, affecting more than 5,000 people living in the mountains along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border after their access road to the outside world was severed more than three weeks ago by floods.
Ba’kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said: “The fuel crisis has not only caused transportation woes but also problems in homes which use generators to produce electricity.
“To make matters worse, cooking gas is also running out as we cannot get new stocks from Lawas. Sugar, flour, milk and other essential items are also running out fast. There is no more rice too,” he said.
Balang said that it was not viable to ferry food or fuel to the highlands via helicopters due of the current dangerous weather.
“There is only one way of transporting urgent stocks and that is via the timber road linking Lawas town and Ba’kelalan. Unfortunately, that road is flooded,” he said.
“Many stretches have been continuously submerged in more than a metre of water for weeks.”
In the Baram parliamentary constituency, floodwaters continue to plague people living in the two largest towns of Marudi and Long Lama, while some 195 longhouses are still in about a metre of water.
Adding to these woes, Sarawak’s northernmost airport – Lawas Airport – had shut down operations due to the floods, and this has disrupted flights to Miri, Limbang, Bario and Ba’kelalan.
In Miri Division, rising river waters claimed the life of 46-year-old unemployed man Razali Mohd Isa in a riverine village in Sibuti district after he fell into the Bakong River.
Sunday February 8, 2009
Interior folk low on fuel and gas
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: First, it was a food shortage. Now tens of thousands of flood victims in interior Sarawak are running out of diesel, petrol and cooking gas.
Diesel and petrol stocks have dried up in places like Bario and Ba’kelalan, affecting more than 5,000 people living in the mountains along the Sarawak-Kalimantan border after their access road to the outside world was severed more than three weeks ago by floods.
Ba’kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said: “The fuel crisis has not only caused transportation woes but also problems in homes which use generators to produce electricity.
“To make matters worse, cooking gas is also running out as we cannot get new stocks from Lawas. Sugar, flour, milk and other essential items are also running out fast. There is no more rice too,” he said.
Balang said that it was not viable to ferry food or fuel to the highlands via helicopters due of the current dangerous weather.
“There is only one way of transporting urgent stocks and that is via the timber road linking Lawas town and Ba’kelalan. Unfortunately, that road is flooded,” he said.
“Many stretches have been continuously submerged in more than a metre of water for weeks.”
In the Baram parliamentary constituency, floodwaters continue to plague people living in the two largest towns of Marudi and Long Lama, while some 195 longhouses are still in about a metre of water.
Adding to these woes, Sarawak’s northernmost airport – Lawas Airport – had shut down operations due to the floods, and this has disrupted flights to Miri, Limbang, Bario and Ba’kelalan.
In Miri Division, rising river waters claimed the life of 46-year-old unemployed man Razali Mohd Isa in a riverine village in Sibuti district after he fell into the Bakong River.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
http://news.mongabay.com/2009/0127-bmf_logging_landslide.html
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
mongabay.com
January 27, 2009
Three people were killed and seven injured when a landslide swept through a logging camp in the Upper Limbang region of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO that campaigns on behalf of Sarawak's indigenous people, links the landslide to logging.
"The landslide is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices," it said in a statement. "The landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river. Logging in the area, which is claimed by local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of logging-road blockades to prevent the timber companies from encroaching their rainforests."
The group says that logging in the area is currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company headquartered in Limbang. Samling also operates in the area.
Research elsewhere has shown that removal of trees and vegetation from hillsides can increase the incidence of landslides.
Logging may be linked to landslide deaths in Malaysia says environmental group
mongabay.com
January 27, 2009
Three people were killed and seven injured when a landslide swept through a logging camp in the Upper Limbang region of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. The Bruno Manser Fund, an NGO that campaigns on behalf of Sarawak's indigenous people, links the landslide to logging.
"The landslide is a direct consequence of destructive logging practices," it said in a statement. "The landslide took place near Long Sebayang on the upper reaches of the Limbang river. Logging in the area, which is claimed by local Penan and Kelabit communities, has been controversial since the mid-1980s when locals set up a number of logging-road blockades to prevent the timber companies from encroaching their rainforests."
The group says that logging in the area is currently being carried out by Lee Ling Timber, a company headquartered in Limbang. Samling also operates in the area.
Research elsewhere has shown that removal of trees and vegetation from hillsides can increase the incidence of landslides.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Kelabits want access
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/10/31/southneast/2371544&sec=southneast
Friday October 31, 2008
Kelabits want access
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The minority Kelabit community in the Bario highlands of northern Sarawak will ensure that the building of a 300km mountain-logging road will not destroy the terrain’s ecosystem, said the Kelabit National Association.
Part of the Bario highlands, located near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, had been alienated for selective logging, said association president Gerawat Gala.
He said the logging project had the blessings of his community members who lived all over the highlands.
They had given approval to timber giant Samling Corporation to manage this long, winding logging road from the summit of Bario to Miri, said Gala.
He added that the Kelabits, a minority ethnic group in Sarawak, had taken part in the decision-making process before the projects were approved by the Sarawak government.
The community would ensure that utmost care be taken to prevent damage to the Bario ecology, he said.
“We recognise that government authorities had licensed part of the highlands for selective logging and have decided to cooperate with the authorities and Samling Corp to ensure our community benefits from the improved accessibility.
“We value our environment and are mindful of the need to ensure continued sustainability of our forests. As a community, we have worked well with the timber company in addressing various issues that affect us.
“The logging road is needed as, without the link, we cannot realise the development potential of our people,” he said.
Recently, concerns were expressed by environmental watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute over the opening of Bario for the projects.
Ba’Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said the road was needed to bring down prices of goods and fuel in Bario and prevent shortages.
The institute’s Sarawak coordinator Raymond Abin had the Bario-Miri logging road may result in more highland forests being logged.
Abin’s fears may be true, but Gala said the logging would not cause much harm as the timber felling would be done via selective logging.
“Our community will not allow our forests and mountains to be destroyed. We will work closely with the timber firm to ensure our forests are sustained,” said Gala.
Asked about the size of the area allocated for logging, Gala said he did not have exact figures.
On how his community would ensure no major damage would be inflicted by the logging, he said that Samling Corp had assured this to his people.
Friday October 31, 2008
Kelabits want access
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The minority Kelabit community in the Bario highlands of northern Sarawak will ensure that the building of a 300km mountain-logging road will not destroy the terrain’s ecosystem, said the Kelabit National Association.
Part of the Bario highlands, located near the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, had been alienated for selective logging, said association president Gerawat Gala.
He said the logging project had the blessings of his community members who lived all over the highlands.
They had given approval to timber giant Samling Corporation to manage this long, winding logging road from the summit of Bario to Miri, said Gala.
He added that the Kelabits, a minority ethnic group in Sarawak, had taken part in the decision-making process before the projects were approved by the Sarawak government.
The community would ensure that utmost care be taken to prevent damage to the Bario ecology, he said.
“We recognise that government authorities had licensed part of the highlands for selective logging and have decided to cooperate with the authorities and Samling Corp to ensure our community benefits from the improved accessibility.
“We value our environment and are mindful of the need to ensure continued sustainability of our forests. As a community, we have worked well with the timber company in addressing various issues that affect us.
“The logging road is needed as, without the link, we cannot realise the development potential of our people,” he said.
Recently, concerns were expressed by environmental watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute over the opening of Bario for the projects.
Ba’Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said the road was needed to bring down prices of goods and fuel in Bario and prevent shortages.
The institute’s Sarawak coordinator Raymond Abin had the Bario-Miri logging road may result in more highland forests being logged.
Abin’s fears may be true, but Gala said the logging would not cause much harm as the timber felling would be done via selective logging.
“Our community will not allow our forests and mountains to be destroyed. We will work closely with the timber firm to ensure our forests are sustained,” said Gala.
Asked about the size of the area allocated for logging, Gala said he did not have exact figures.
On how his community would ensure no major damage would be inflicted by the logging, he said that Samling Corp had assured this to his people.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Bario communities wanted the logging road
The Star Online
Published: Thursday October 23, 2008 MYT 2:44:00 PM
Updated: Thursday October 23, 2008 MYT 3:02:46 PM
'Bario communities wanted the logging road'
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The Sarawak government had to allow a logging road built all the way into the remote Bario highlands to ensure villagers had access to goods and fuel at lower prices and to prevent future shortages of necessities.
Ba'Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said on Thursday that the road was constructed after the highland communities had discussed the matter. "The people of Bario discussed this issue at length. They decided that the logging road had to be built. This logging road built by Samling Corporation has connected Bario all the way to Miri. "It will facilitate smoother transport of large amount of food, goods and fuel from Miri to Bario. This will help to ensure enough supply of these neccessities in the highlands. "An ample supply of these goods will help to bring down the price of these commodities in the highlands.
"At present, suppliers have to pay huge overhead costs just to transport these items to Bario by flights and by land from other smaller towns. "That is why the prices of fuel, food and other daily necessities and construction materials in Bario are five times more expensive than in urban areas of Sarawak.
"This logging road will eventually help to reduce the prices and ensure constant stable supply at all times," he told The Star.
Balang was responding to the concerns expressed by environmental-watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute concerning the 300km-long logging road that had been built right to the summit of the 1,600 metres high mountain.
Institute coordinator for Sarawak, Raymond Abin, had said the construction of this road might result in more highland forests being logged.
The clearing of the Bario forests would irreparably damage the ecosystem and alter the weather pattern, Abin had said. The institute had also questioned why the construction of the Miri-Bario logging road had not been made public before building began and why an environmental-impact assessment study was not done beforehand.
Balang responded on Wednesday that as far as he knew, the logging road built by Samling Corporation did not to be gazetted publicly.
"There is no need for any public announcement of the project because it is built by a private company. It is Samling's right to construct the road following the request from the people of Bario," he said.
Asked if the construction of the logging road into the highlands required an EIA, Balang said that he was not sure about this matter. On concerns that the interior's ecology and weather system would be damaged permanently, he said his main concern now was to help alleviate the hardship suffered by his constituents as much as possible.
Published: Thursday October 23, 2008 MYT 2:44:00 PM
Updated: Thursday October 23, 2008 MYT 3:02:46 PM
'Bario communities wanted the logging road'
By STEPHEN THEN
MIRI: The Sarawak government had to allow a logging road built all the way into the remote Bario highlands to ensure villagers had access to goods and fuel at lower prices and to prevent future shortages of necessities.
Ba'Kelalan state assemblyman Nelson Balang Rining said on Thursday that the road was constructed after the highland communities had discussed the matter. "The people of Bario discussed this issue at length. They decided that the logging road had to be built. This logging road built by Samling Corporation has connected Bario all the way to Miri. "It will facilitate smoother transport of large amount of food, goods and fuel from Miri to Bario. This will help to ensure enough supply of these neccessities in the highlands. "An ample supply of these goods will help to bring down the price of these commodities in the highlands.
"At present, suppliers have to pay huge overhead costs just to transport these items to Bario by flights and by land from other smaller towns. "That is why the prices of fuel, food and other daily necessities and construction materials in Bario are five times more expensive than in urban areas of Sarawak.
"This logging road will eventually help to reduce the prices and ensure constant stable supply at all times," he told The Star.
Balang was responding to the concerns expressed by environmental-watchdog group Borneo Resources Institute concerning the 300km-long logging road that had been built right to the summit of the 1,600 metres high mountain.
Institute coordinator for Sarawak, Raymond Abin, had said the construction of this road might result in more highland forests being logged.
The clearing of the Bario forests would irreparably damage the ecosystem and alter the weather pattern, Abin had said. The institute had also questioned why the construction of the Miri-Bario logging road had not been made public before building began and why an environmental-impact assessment study was not done beforehand.
Balang responded on Wednesday that as far as he knew, the logging road built by Samling Corporation did not to be gazetted publicly.
"There is no need for any public announcement of the project because it is built by a private company. It is Samling's right to construct the road following the request from the people of Bario," he said.
Asked if the construction of the logging road into the highlands required an EIA, Balang said that he was not sure about this matter. On concerns that the interior's ecology and weather system would be damaged permanently, he said his main concern now was to help alleviate the hardship suffered by his constituents as much as possible.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Borneo logging road puts rainforest, indigenous communities at risk
http://news.mongabay.com/2008/1022-borneo.html
Borneo logging road puts rainforest, indigenous communities at risk
mongabay.com
October 22, 2008
A 186-mile (300-km) logging road to the top of the Bario highlands in northern Sarawak puts the state's increasingly rare natural forest at risk, warns the Borneo Resources Institute, a grassroots environmental group.
As reported by the Malaysian Star, the road was constructed by Samling Corporation, a timber company, to open up the interior to industrial logging.
"From what I know, the road was constructed by a timber company, not by the Government," Raymond Abin, Sarawak coordinator for the Borneo Resources Institute, told the Star. "Does this mean that the timber firm has been given the right to harvest the timber in the forests where the logging road runs through?
"Our institute is worried that the construction of this logging road is merely a front for the opening of the whole Bario highlands for timber extraction," he continued. "The Bario highlands is a very ecologically-important region. The ecosystem and the weather system there is very fragile."
Vast swathes of the biologically-rich Bornean rainforest that once blanketed Sarawak have be heavily logged since the 1980s. What forest remains is increasingly being replaced with industrial oil palm plantations.
The Bario highlands are populated by the Bawangs and Kelabits minority ethnic groups.
STEPHEN THEN. Concern over logging road into Bario highland. Malaysian Star. Wednesday October 22, 2008
Borneo logging road puts rainforest, indigenous communities at risk
mongabay.com
October 22, 2008
A 186-mile (300-km) logging road to the top of the Bario highlands in northern Sarawak puts the state's increasingly rare natural forest at risk, warns the Borneo Resources Institute, a grassroots environmental group.
As reported by the Malaysian Star, the road was constructed by Samling Corporation, a timber company, to open up the interior to industrial logging.
"From what I know, the road was constructed by a timber company, not by the Government," Raymond Abin, Sarawak coordinator for the Borneo Resources Institute, told the Star. "Does this mean that the timber firm has been given the right to harvest the timber in the forests where the logging road runs through?
"Our institute is worried that the construction of this logging road is merely a front for the opening of the whole Bario highlands for timber extraction," he continued. "The Bario highlands is a very ecologically-important region. The ecosystem and the weather system there is very fragile."
Vast swathes of the biologically-rich Bornean rainforest that once blanketed Sarawak have be heavily logged since the 1980s. What forest remains is increasingly being replaced with industrial oil palm plantations.
The Bario highlands are populated by the Bawangs and Kelabits minority ethnic groups.
STEPHEN THEN. Concern over logging road into Bario highland. Malaysian Star. Wednesday October 22, 2008
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