KOTA KINABALU: Sabah government will not entertain any lobbying attempt on the decision to impose a ban on exporting logs, said Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
“No exception will be made on the ban to export round logs. The ban will remain in place till certain issues are settled.
“The ban could be temporary or it could be long-term. The matter will be studied thoroughly.
“I am all for our logs to be processed locally so that legal sawmills can operate and provide sawn timber and other value-added products, which in turn will create more job opportunities,” he said in a statement.
On Monday at a briefing by the Yayasan Sabah Group Forestry Division, Mohd Shafie ordered its operations to be reviewed comprehensively after it was disclosed that ‘exclusive operators’ held a monopoly and took the bulk of the profits.
Mohd Shafie, who is also Yayasan Sabah chairman, expressed disbelief and was sad to know that Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd (RBJ), the operator of the foundation’s timber resources, had been in the red for four out of five years since 2013.
From a lucrative subsidiary earning billions of ringgit for the foundation, RBJ can now be best described as an ailing company with a bleak future unless drastic steps are taken to reform it, the Chief Minister was told.
“These ‘exclusive operators’ are companies which enjoy special privileges by the previous government and former Chief Minister.
“Their deal involves extraction of logs, buying them and then having the privilege of exporting them at the best prices while RBJ gets a fraction of the profits,” he said, adding that the company could make better profits if logs were processed into sawn timber and sold by themselves.
Mohd Shafie said such a policy must stop as whatever business deals the government or its agencies were involved in must be productive and bring maximum benefits, not for the leaders, but the people.