KOTA KINABALU: An assemblyman faced the wrath of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman (pic) who spent nearly 40 minutes explaining the intricacies of Sabah’s forest management programme. "It is not a unilateral decision but part of a transparent system, found only in Sabah and nowhere else in the country,” Musa added. Similarly, he said, the state had allowed Yayasan Sabah to convert 150,000ha of the low-valued acacia plantations into oil palm as a source of revenue for the foundation. He said the state had benefited from this conversion as the oil palm venture had resulted in RM40mil income for Sabah in terms of royalties and sales tax. While acknowledging that portions of Sabah’s forest reserves had been excised for specific reasons, Musa said the totally protected areas (TPAs) had more than doubled since the 1970s.

Source: The Star April 10, 2017 05:48 UTC