The following is the gist of the answer that I obtained from the Government in Sarawak DUN sitting in April.
I have asked for the list of all the timber licences and the respective acreage covered thereunder that are held by the big 6 logging companies in Sarawak, namely WTK Holdings Sdn Bhd, KTS Holdings Sdn Bhd, Rimbunan Hijau, Ta Ann, Samling and Shin Yang groups and their subsidiaries or related companies.
The answers are as follows:
1. Ta Ann Group of Companies -- 433,003 Ha. / 1,069,935 acre
2. RH Group of Companies -- 1,001,877 Ha. / 2,475,604 acre
3. Shin Yang Group of Companies -- 500,904 Ha. / 1,237,716 acre
4. Samling Group of Companies -- 1,288,389 Ha. / 3,183,565 acre
5. KTS Group of Companies -- 144,485 Ha. / 357,017 acre
6. WTK Group of Companies -- 357,017 Ha. / 882,176 acre
In total, the Big 6 holds 3,724,675 Hectares (or 9,203,545 acres) of timber concession.
Sarawak's total land mass is 12.4 million hectares, out of which there are 10 million hectares of forest. Out of the 10 million hectares of forest, 1 million hectares of totally protected areas and 4 million hectares reserved for agriculture and other uses (including oil palm plantation).
There is thus left with about 5 million hectares of forest for timber production. Of these 5 million hectares of forest for timber production, 70% is already given to the Big 6.
It is thus no wonder that in the year of 2013, out of the RM7.16 billion of export earnings of timber and timber products from Sarawak, 75% is contributed by the Big 6, while in the year of 2014, out of the RM7.25 billion of export earnings of timber and timber products from Sarawak, 76% is contributed by the Big 6.
Given the huge 3.7 million hectares of legitimate timber concession areas controlled by the Big 6, where the Big 6 can legally chop down trees and destroy the natural forest, the illegal logging referred to by Adenan Satem is just a drop in the oceans.
As such, if the State government truly wishes to stop deforestation in Sarawak, the State government should review and reduce these timber concession licences issued.
On a second note, this information reveals that there is an over-concentration of the timber resources in the Big 6. Such concentration of natural resources in a few companies is not good for the economic development of the general ordinary Sarawakians.
This also shows that the actual problem with the Sarawak's economy is not that we have insufficient resources, but the inequitable distribution of these resources.
28-5-2015
Chong Chieng Jen
MP for Bandar Kuching
ADUN for Kota Sentosa
