MIRI – An activist has expressed concern that the Sarawak government will issue licences to clear huge, forested areas along the state’s massive serpentine border with Indonesia’s Kalimantan province soon.
Save Sarawak Rivers chairman Peter Kallang told The Vibes that his fears are based on news that the state wants to develop the border areas to tap the potential for industrial and economic projects in view of the new capital of Indonesia being built in Kalimantan.
Indonesia is opening vast areas of Kalimantan not far from its border with Sarawak.
It intends to relocate its capital city from Jakarta to Kalimantan within the next 20 years, and has already named it Nusantara.
Kallang said it looks like there will be vast border stretches on the Malaysian side that will be cleared via logging.
“The worry is that logging will be carried out extensively to clear the borders on the Sarawak side to build highways to connect into Kalimantan.
“After the logging will come huge oil palm plantations and even mining,” he said.
“Such massive developments in the name of economic progress will spell disaster for our ecosystem and environment.
“Already we in Sarawak are seeing increasing occurrences of serious floods and severe erosion,” he said.
Earlier, Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hassan had said that the state government has forwarded requests to the federal government to help Sarawak open up the border regions.
Awang said that the move by Indonesia to relocate its capital city to Kalimantan will present tremendous opportunities for Sarawak’s economic progress.
“Sarawak needs to open up our border with Kalimantan with more roads and build more immigration points now,” he said yesterday.
“We have presented Putrajaya with our plans for the Sarawak-Kalimantan border development plans,” he added.
Tengah said he had attended a meeting in Putrajaya with Minister in the Prime Minister Department (Economic Development) Datuk Seri Mustapha Mohamad on this subject during his visit to discuss matters regarding the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He said he also spoke to Datuk Seri Maximus Ongkili, who is the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Sabah and Sarawak affairs.
“The new Indonesian capital in Kalimantan offers vast amounts of opportunities for businesses and industries in Sarawak to benefit from.
“We must get ready the infrastructure needed to link Sarawak with the rest of Kalimantan,” he said. – The Vibes, February 19, 2022
