THE Gunung Tebu permanent forest reserve in Besut, Terengganu, a famous location for local and international climbers, is now threatened by illegal loggers, residents said.

They claimed large swathes of the permanent forest reserve have been cleared by loggers.

Resident Amir Arsad, 40, said this should not have happened, more so since it is gazetted as a permanent forest reserve.

“While we know logging is allowed in some areas in permanent forest reserves, it’s usually not hundreds of hectares.

“Logging is happening in Gunung Tebu. To put it simply, the front of the forest looks beautiful but the back is completely destroyed,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Gunung Tebu, which is 1,097m above sea level, is an attraction to climbers due to its unique flora and fauna and the beauty of its landscape facing the South China Sea.

The mountain is categorised as a hill dipterocarp forest, which is a forest area located at an altitude of 750 to 1,200m above sea level, and also belongs to the largest forest class in Peninsular Malaysia.

Residents left out of decision making

Amir, who is also a guide for Gunung Tebu, claimed that forestry authorities left residents out of its development decisions in the area.

Among them is the RM2 fee charged by the Forestry Department to the public to enter the Lata Belantan recreational forest, the entrance to Gunung Tebu. The fee is also levied on locals.

Residents of nearby villages are also no longer allowed to do business in the Lata Belantan area, but only outside the entrance while the guides must be recognised by the department.

Amir said the new rules angered the residents so much so that some rebelled by cutting down trees.

“The first people to explore Lata Belantan are the villagers. Most of the guides, including myself, inherited this job from our parents.

“This policy is not fair to the people when they see the forest being logged on a large scale.

“So they (the villagers) think if big companies can log Gunung Tebu, why can’t they do the same as they were the first explorers?” he asked.

Even so, Amir said, the timbers taken by the villagers are not as many as those taken by logging firms.

Amir also said he is knowledgeable about the ins and outs of the Gunung Tebu route as he had been exploring the area since he was 12.

He claimed that the worst affected area was the back route of Gunung Tebu.

He said people can see the effects of illegal logging if they pass a village called Felda Selasih, with erosion taking place over a large area.

“For me, if the impact is so big, it must involve some insiders as well… because the villagers are just collecting one or two logs,” he said.

“But those who use heavy machinery, we can see the effects near the back of Gunung Tebu, which already looks bare,” he said.

Amir said there are two villages near Gunung Tebu, namely Kampung Kuala Kubang and Felda Selasih.

“Because it is close to the village, the residents can see the loggers entering and exiting. Even now, people are seen taking out logs but from the yellow area (permanent forest reserve).

“We also saw someone opening a durian orchard near the Lata Belantan recreational forest but we don’t know why the department did not take note.

“If we now measure (the effects of illegal logging), it is eating into the forest reserve. But those in power are ignoring it,” he said.

According to Amir, the issue was also raised with the forestry director during a meeting with the villagers.

“I asked the director why logging was allowed in the yellow area (permanent forest reserve status), but neither he nor the new director could answer this.

“For me, as long as the Forestry Department does not restore relations with the villagers, illegal logging will be rampant,” he said.

Government denies illegal logging in Gunung Tebu

The issue of encroachment into Gunung Tebu was also raised by Umno assemblyman Sabri Mohd Noor in the Terengganu assembly last week.

The Langkap rep posed the question to Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, on whether the state government wanted to change the status of the Gunung Tebu as a permanent forest reserve to approved logging.

Samsuri, in his reply, denied the allegation.

“We need more information to launch an investigation but I would like to clarify that there are 12 categories of permanent forest reserves based on the National Forestry Act 1984.

“We will assess whether the forest reserve remains gazetted and functions as a water catchment area or has been cancelled for logging purposes,” he said.

Sabri told The Malaysian Insight he raised the matter because he was worried that Terengganu would lose its valuable treasures.

“I don’t want that to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, state forestry director Roslan Rani also denied any attempts to change the status of the forest reserve.

He said that logging in permanent forest reserves, however, is still allowed according to the permitted categories.

“There are areas where we do not allow logging,” he said.

However, Rosli declined to disclose the details of the total logging area in Gunung Tebu. He also declined to answer if there was an application to increase the logging area. – November 26, 2021.