Villagers in Kinabatangan plead for PM's help to gazette the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary

KINABATANGAN: “Tolonglah Pak Lah (Please help, Pak Lah). Help us gazette the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary.”

This is the call of villagers living along the lower Kinabatangan River in Sabah.

Frustrated and anxious with the delay by the state authorities in gazetting the area, several villagers in Sukau and Bilit have asked for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to intervene and help conserve the area.

“We would like to invite Pak Lah to come to Kinabatangan and see the wonders of nature, which we are trying to protect here.

“At the same time, we will show him the threats to the place, which can be stopped if the area is gazetted,” said Satar Pamutar, 53, who hails from Bilit.

Satar, who is the first cousin of Kinabatangan MP Datuk Bung Mokhtar Radin, said many of the villagers had benefited from the large number of foreign tourists arriving to see the endangered orang utans, Borneo Pygmy Elephants, proboscis monkeys and hornbills.

Many tourists come to specifically catch a glimpse of the pygmy elephants, which have been listed as the smallest elephants in the world in the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

“We have homestays, bed-and-breakfast accommodation and all sorts of activities run by locals for tourists.

“All of us have benefited from tourism here and we want this to go on whilst protecting the area,” said Satar.

Sukau village elder Abdul Karim Abdul Hamid said the Kinabatangan River area was important not only to Sabah but also the whole country.

“If Pak Lah accepts our invitation, he will see and hear about what’s happening to our national heritage,” he added.

Abdul Karim said tourists had expressed their disappointment after seeing the areas along the river destroyed by development.

“They put their thumbs upside down and say ‘Down, Down’ and insist on not going on with their itinerary,” he added.

Kampung Sukau security and development committee chairman Pastor Mansor said villagers supported the gazetting of the area and were prepared to work with the authorities and NGOs to protect the wildlife sanctuary.

“Further delay (in gazetting) could result in more earmarked for the sanctuary being developed,” he added.

Courtesy of The Star