Muzings 2022

White Cinnamon
Pepper Sandlewood

Black
Pepper

Srivijaya but others don’t agree. Many Japanese scholars only in China but also in other areas of the world. The
now think Sanfotsi is a general term for countries in profits from these trades may have been one of the
the area of the Straits of Malacca from the 10th-15th factors for the development of small groups in each
centuries. According to Chu-fan-chih, export goods region of South East Asia, including the development
from Sanfotsi were divided into two groups. The first of Bujang Valley into a kingdom.
were those made in Sanfotsi and the second were goods However, export goods from South East Asia are
from Arab nations. The first group included: turtle shell; mostly organic products of the rainforest and cannot
Borneo camphor; agarwood; lakawood and others for be preserved for a long time. Nowadays, it is very
incense; fragrant wood including sandalwood; cloves difficult to find real ancient trade goods from South
and nutmeg. Two of the four major spices, clove and East Asia in archaeological sites. But there are some
nutmeg are listed; their place of origin is the Maluku exceptions. An extraordinarily large log of agarwood
Islands, now eastern Indonesia. These two spices named Ranjyatai (蘭奢待), measuring 156cm x 43cm
have been exported from South East Asia since very and weighing 11.6kg, was discovered in the old Japanese
early times. Pepper, however, was not an export from Syosoin Treasury (正倉院) in the Nara prefecture. This
Sanfotsi. Some scholars insist that the planting of repository stored many items relating to the ancient
pepper in South East Asia only began in the thirteenth Japanese emperor Syoumu Tennou (聖武天皇, 701-
century. Perhaps, pepper had not become a major 756 C.E.) and his wife, Empress Kōmyō (光明皇后),
export commodity as yet.

Chu-fan-Chih also listed Chinese import goods from Resin at the National
South East Asia and India as 47 commodities including Museum, Malaysia.
31 kinds of incense and medicines. Amongst the 31
goods were 5 different types of agarwood. Incense
and medical goods seem to have been very popular at
that time. It is said that when Chinese nobles started to
enjoy luxurious lives, luxury goods like incense became
more popular and the volume of the trade in these
products became greater. Incense was used in religious
ceremonies and the demand for it was very high, not

51

Some export goods from the Malay Peninsula
to China in the 13th century.
Clockwise from top-left:

Leaves of camphor laurel (Calvero, CC-BY-
SA-3.0-migrated)
Sandalwood (Junko Mori)
Cardamom (Miansari66, Public domain)
Beeswax (Simon A. Eugster, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Shosoin Treasures

Ranjyatai

Lec

Horyuji Treasures White Sandalwood
incense
Collections of Tokyo National Museum
(TNM Image Archives)

A part of Sandalwood
incense with an inscription

Agarwood incense

Ancient trade goods at the National
Museum, Malaysia.
Image credit: Junko Mori.

701–760 A.D. The Ranjatai piece is believed to have Asia, including gold, ivory, ebony, sappan, bamboo,
originated from the mountains of Laos or Thailand. agarwood, Borneo camphor, nutmeg, clove, and
Some powerful Japanese leaders including Asikaga sandalwood. Middle Eastern texts, including ‘Tales of
Yoshimitsu in the fifteenth century, Oda Nobunaga in China and India’ stated that agarwood was from India,
the sixteenth century, and Meiji Tennou in the nineteenth Sri Lanka and South East Asian countries and also
century carved small pieces from Ranjyatai. Besides from Karah, believed to be the Arabic name for Kedah.
Ranjyatai, lac, the resinous secretion of lac insects from According to Abu Zayad’s record, in the tenth century
South East Asia, was also found in the collections at C.E., Karah, midway between China and Arabia, was an
Syosoin. The lac had been brought to Syosoin in 756 entrepôt for agarwood, Borneo camphor, sandalwood,
C.E. to be used as a dye or for medical purposes. ivory, tin, ebony, sappan and so on. Karah was very
In the Nara prefecture, the Buddhist temple Horyuji, famous in West Asian countries. Some scholars think
established in the seventh century C.E, was also found that agarwood from Karah was not originally from
to have stored some ancient import goods from South Karah itself but had been brought there from other
East Asia. The temple had agarwood and sandalwood place in South East Asia for export to China. However,
dedicated to Horyuji in the seventh or eighth century. agarwood can be found on the Malay Peninsula;
The sandalwood bears Persian inscriptions written in indigenous groups still harvest wild agarwood in the
the Pahlavi language between the third and seventh rainforest today. According to ‘The Last Descendants of
centuries C.E, and there was a branding iron using the the Lanoh Hunters and Gatherers in Malaysia’, a book about
Sogdian alphabet of medieval Iran. This sandalwood the Orang Asli published in 2015, agarwood is quoted as
also has an ink inscription in Japanese that includes the selling for between RM 8-10 000 per kilogram.
date 761 C.E. It is believed that the Pahlavi inscription The export of rainforest products in ancient times is
and the Sogdian branding iron had been for shipping represented by incense and medical woods or resin. In
purposes and that the agarwood and sandalwood had Gallery A at the National Museum of Malaysia, there
been transported by many traders including Persian and are some examples of resins from Kedah used as trade
Sogdian from Asian rainforests to China. It means that goods. Thus, in the seventh century, there was already
a trade network, which included South East Asia, China a trading network exporting rainforest goods to China
and Japan, already existed by the seventh century and and Japan, and we can still see the actual examples of
involved Persian and Sogdian merchants. these ancient trade goods from South East Asia in Japan
Meanwhile, according to the Middle Eastern work, today. Agarwood and sandalwood stored in old Japanese
Akhbar as-Sin wa’l Hind (Tales of China and India) warehouses may not have been an original product of
written by Abu Zayad al-Sirafi in the tenth century, Karah (Kedah), however, but may have been brought to
many kinds of goods were traded from South East
Japan via Kedah. w

53

Through the Rainforest:

The Trans-Peninsular Route

Rose Gan

In 1774, Captain Francis Light, for once deserting the sea, took a land
trek across the Isthmus of Kra from west coast Phang Na province across
the Khao Sak Pass to Ao Ban Don, a port on the Gulf of Siam, from
where he took sea passage to Thonburi (Bangkok). He travelled by elephant
and river, following a well-trodden path in use for generations that, by the
18th century, had become the main tin route between the west and east
coasts. Light later proposed that the East India Company should consider
this alternate route for their China trade, stressing the speed and safety
of a trans-peninsular crossing at a time when the Straits was becoming
increasingly fraught due to Dutch and Bugis hostilities and the attacks of
pirates. He believed that a British establishment on the north west of the
Straits – at this point he favoured Junk Ceylon (Phuket) over Penang –
would keep British trade free of any encumbrances if they travelled through
the forests instead of sailing around the Peninsula to the South China Sea.
Crossings through the rainforest in several key locations on the Malay
Peninsula were not new; they had existed since earliest times. For, although
perceived wisdom tells us that the sea has always been the driving force of
trade contacts in South East Asia, routes through the interior were also an
integral part of mercantile and cultural exchange, a necessary complement
to the maritime routes.
Even before the fifth century CE, there is believed to have been a trans-
shipment route between Kedah and Yarang, by way of the Merbok and
Patani rivers. At this earlier time, these rivers (much reduced in modern
times by silting) were wider and reached further inland, requiring only a
short haulage between the two. Traversing the land sectors, often through
dense forest, would no doubt require the assistance of groups living in the
interior. Thus, an indigenous economy would have evolved, which included
the barter of forest products in return for food and other commodities, as
well as the regular labour demands for haulage and the maintenance of the

Samphran Elephant Ground & Zoo.
Image credit: Supanut Arunoprayote,
CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

route. Another suggested path during the heyday of the made by western mapmakers – it was not a manmade
Bujang Valley civilisation stretched from Ligor in the waterway but an ancient inland route making use of the
north east via Takuapa (Phang Na) on the west coast rivers to tranship goods from east to west. There would
and then on to Kedah. have been at least one portage between the two rivers,
This cross-cultural symbiosis exchanged more than probably serviced by indigenous bearers.
goods: languages, religions, customs, and technologies Roads would have been a challenge to construct through
were also part of the barter. It is interesting to note that such thick forest at this period but rivers made for ideal
Chinese records of this period demonstrate a familiarity transport. Tuan Haji A. Shukor, in his ‘History of Muar’,
with the east coast of the Malay peninsula but make little believed that Jalan Penarikan played a vital role in the
mention of Kedah, suggesting that Chinese traders did economic and military success of Melaka, aside from its
not venture further than the east coast ports, and trade important maritime location. Wheatley describes Pahang
goods were brought to them via the interior routes. as a major source of gold, a commodity troublesome to
However, evidence suggests that Indian merchants may ship by sea as it would no doubt attract the attentions
have made these journeys inland, which might explain of pirates and raiders. Instead gold was probably taken
why Indic culture made more impression at an earlier across the rainforest by means of rivers and portages
time than Chinese. to Melaka. Furthermore, other easily portable goods
The historian Paul Wheatley, former professor at from Pahang, such as sappanwood, porcupine quills,
University of Malaya in Singapore, noticed that many nutmeg, camphor and pepper, which had high yield
old maps of the Peninsula from the sixteenth and values in Europe, would have also followed this interior
seventeenth century seemed to indicate a wide canal route. Jalan Penarikan would no doubt have continued
crossing the peninsula, running in a diagonal direction northwards to Pattani, thus connecting the two main
from the north east to the south west. He realised that trading centres on either coast.
this corresponded to the Muar and Pahang rivers, at that In 1968, a sterling effort to rediscover Jalan Penarikan
time only separated by a short neck of land less than a was made by a local historian, N. Rajendra, with the
mile, around a small hill still known as Bukit Penarik help of a group of four school boys and their teacher
(from tarek – to pull). He believed the canal was an error from Setapak High School. His work titled “Retracing

At a zoo in Bangkok.
Image credit: Bernard Dupong,
CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

56



By the Panarikan route, one maintained waterway. They discovered that, apart from
travels from Malacca to the silting one might have expected, there were many
Pahang in six days. other obstacles, particularly logs of fallen trees, debris,
sandbanks, and overhanging forest; in some areas the
Emmanuel Godinho de Eredia water was little more than an ankle-deep trickle. Many
navigable stretches were still used by local orang asli
who fished there in their dugouts; in parts they had
netted or wired up entire sections to trap fish. These
obstacles necessitated unloading their dinghy and
carrying everything by land.

de Eredia (1563-1623) was a Portuguese chronicler Another danger was crocodiles; one member of the
and cartographer, who correctly identified Jalan party had to be on lookout duty at all times with a pair
Penarikan as riverine, not a canal. of binoculars. At a place called Buloh Kasap they finally
had to give up and go by road to Kemayan as the next
the Penarikan Route” was published in Malaysia in stretch of the river was impossible to navigate, about 15
History, Vol. 12, No. 2, March 1969. They anticipated miles in all. Locals said ‘only demons and pythons live
that the journey would take six days as it had done there.’ At last they reached the Sungei Pahang, daunting
for de Eredia, but it was not the case. In fact, it took in itself because it was so wide after the narrow streams
them eleven days and proved to be a very difficult and they had been navigating. The Pahang river is also
backbreaking experience. Much had changed since famous for its many crocodiles although they were
the old days when this had been a well-travelled and informed that a local bomoh had ‘consulted’ with the
largest crocodile, an ancient fellow known as Lubok
Puka, and travellers were generally left alone. Perhaps
the bomoh’s charm worked after all, because on the
11th day they finally made Pekan safe and sound.

Pahang River at Kuala Lipis, circa 1910.
Image credit: Leiden University Library, Public
domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Although they had only traversed about three quarters Songkhla
of the route because of the many challenges blocking Hat Yai
their path, this expedition clearly demonstrated that the
Penarikan had once been possible. When it had been THAILAND
a thriving waterway, there would have been constant
maintenance by locals clearing debris and logs, digging
channels and cutting back undergrowth. Of course,
modern Malaysian highways have already linked the east
and west coast in several places. River transport through
the forest is no longer necessary. But interestingly
enough, the idea of a manmade waterway across the
Peninsula has never quite been abandoned. For the
last five years, the Isthmus of Kra project has been the
South East Asian hot potato. The plan to construct a
canal across the narrowest point of the peninsula from
Satun in the west to Songhkla in the east has generated
fierce debate on all sides.

The first time such a canal project was mooted was Langkawi MALAYSIA
as early as 1677, when the king of Siam ordered a
French engineer, De Lamar, to draw up plans. In 1882 The proposed Kra Isthmus Canal.
Ferdinand de Lesseps (of Panama Canal fame) was
consulted. In the modern era, the World Bank and the There are other even more controversial considerations.
Asian Development Bank have looked into it. There The recent Memorandum of Understanding (2015)
was even a Japanese proposal to use nuclear excavation between the governments of Thailand and China,
to undertake the construction! Undoubtedly there are part of the Belt and Road Initiative, proposed a $28
advantages to such schemes. A canal link between billion-dollar, ten-year project which would leave
the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea cuts 1200 Thailand massively indebted to China and would
kilometres off the sea journey through the Straits of increase geopolitical tensions in the region, particularly
Malacca, easing the congestion and pollution caused between China and India. Singapore and Malaysia were
by the 80 000+ vessels that ply the route annually, concerned at the impact on their trade in the Straits.
comprising 30% of the world’s global trade. A land The United States objected to the strategic imbalance
route also avoids the dangers of piracy that still exist in that could result from China’s direct access to the Indian
the Malacca-Sunda-Lombok Straits. Ocean. Thailand feared the consequences of falling into
The counter argument is equally compelling, however. a debt trap that would leave them potentially caught
A project of this magnitude would have serious in the middle of a conflict between India and China,
ramifications both to the ecosystem of the forest and to further intensified when India began to fortify bases
the geopolitical security of the region. To cut through in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands against possible
44 kilometres of forest itself is no mean feat. Much future activity of the Chinese navy in these waters.
of the mountainous interior is at a high elevation of After five years of debate, the proposal has been
at least 75 metres, forcing the canal to wind around cancelled due to geopolitical and environmental
natural contours, increasing its length to possibly as pressure and the escalation of tensions, not to mention
much as 100 km. To allow for the draught of modern the enormous costs involved. But this hot potato has
container shipping, the waterway would require a depth not been entirely discarded; in September 2020, the
of at least 35 m, and width of at least 500 m. Imagine Thai government announced that it was considering a
the environmental cost, not to mention the constant rail link in place of a canal across the same region. The
dredging, that would be required to maintain such a
channel! Many also believe that revenue generated would trans-peninsular route lives on! w
ultimately not be sufficient to justify the investment and
long-term ecological damage.

59

Is the Jungle Neutral?

Annie Chuah Siew Yen

The word ‘jungle’ is from the Hindi language and as such is associated with
the rich and varied flora and fauna of the Indian sub-continent and its
surrounding countries. Tall dense jungles in wet tropical regions are often
referred to as rain forests. The rainforest, home to an incredible biodiversity,
is the undisputed champion of the world’s ecosystems, and comprises some
of the most beautiful wildernesses on our planet. This ecosystem is based
on a complex interdependence of plants and animals, which is both the
forest’s strength and weakness. The jungle is a fighting pit where millions of
plants and animals – and even some tribal communities – each play a critical
role to compete for the limited resources.



The Jungle is Neutral is Spencer Chapman’s account Brother Patricius O’Donovan FSC, in his wartime
of three and a half years (1942-1946) he spent in the diaries, recorded the conditions of the merciless terrain
harsh Malayan jungle where a group of British soldiers of their jungle settlement in Bahau, Negeri Sembilan,
had remained behind to organise local resistance by where his community of mainly Irish Catholics and
recruiting and training guerrilla forces. Their activities Eurasians from Singapore lived out the war years after
included: blowing up bridges, throwing grenades at the Japanese siege of Singapore in 1942. The lure to
passing Japanese patrols, rigging mines, putting trucks encourage the evacuation of this ‘unwanted group of
out of commission, and cutting communication lines. foreigners’ to some remote place to fend for themselves
Their home was the harsh, unforgiving rainforest. was a ‘Beautiful Village’, Fuji Go, with ‘crystal streams
and rich loamy soil, ideal arable land’.

“The title of Colonel Chapman’s work Overwhelmed by huge trees towering to incredible
‘The Jungle is Neutral’ implies that if heights, the settlement was not the exotic world
human beings have the fortitude to bear of Shimbun propaganda. Almost every crop they
the malevolence and hazards of the jungle introduced attracted its own predator, on foot or on the
and the resource to use what benefits it wing. Dreams of wild boar meat remained unsatiated
produces, it has no particular objection to as these wily porcines avoided the traps dug out for
them! Their makeshift huts collapsed whenever an
their living in it.” elephant felt the need to scratch its hide on the rough
Field Marshal Earl Wavell, June 1948 walls. Yes, malaria did strike, and one by one the crosses
multiplied on the hill slope as the funeral bells tolled.
While these great hardships were being endured at
the settlement, Japanese troops negotiated the near-
impassable terrain, waded through swamps and

The author at the Chapman Memorial, located beside Chapman’s
Bar, Emerald Bay. 12 January 2022.

On 13 May 1945, after hiding in the jungle for more than three
years from the occupying Japanese army, Chapman made a daring
dash for freedom from Sungai Perak, dressed in local Chinese garb.
Hiding and dodging, he arrived at the rendezvous point in Pangkor
Laut fifteen days later. He and his compatriot, Major R. Broome,
swam out 45 metres in the dark of night where they were rescued by
the Royal Navy submarine, HMS Statesman.

When the Pangkor Laut Resort was planned, the bar at Emerald Bay
was named after Chapman; it marked the rendezvous point with the
submarine. A memorial to him, next to the bar, has a quotation from
The Jungle is Neutral carved in black marble:

“The truth is that the jungle is neutral. It provides any amount
of fresh water, and unlimited cover for friend as well as foe
– an armed neutrality, if you like, but neutrality nevertheless.
It is the attitude of mind that determines whether you go
under or survive.”

The resort hosts the annual ‘Chapman Challenge’, which includes a
timed trek through the jungle and a swim; descendants of Chapman
have attended and even competed.

crocodile-filled waters, often surprising their foes from
the rear. Pontoons were flung across murky rivers; in
small companies, they slipped through morning fog,
around and over fences, infiltrating and continuously
gaining ground in the jungle war. Their propaganda
leaflets blaring Syonan Shimbun banner headlines to
deceive and mislead were successfully dropped in the
targeted forest areas. It appeared that the jungle was
partial to the Japanese endeavours!

“…with muscle and brawn and blade,
thro’ jungle and wood we hacked and
hewed. All battered and bent, all tattered
and rent, we sweated and slogged…in the

jungles of Malaya.”

Patricius O’Donovan, Bahau Lost in Shangri-La is the story of US Air Force CC-47,
As the jungle subdued and overwhelmed all their the ‘Gremlin Special’, which crashed into Dutch New
efforts, the oft helpless community in Fuji Go knew the Guinea on 13 May 1945. The survivors had to figure
jungle would remain unconquered, ever monstrous in out the hard way how to keep alive, crossing rivers and
its mysterious timelessness. This led them to conclude crocodile-infested swamps, avoiding wild animals and
that ‘Jungles are Never Neutral’. insect bites, and malaria. Of the 24 military personnel
on board, only three survived. Mitchell Zuckoff, who
wrote about the wreckage, describes the unforgiving
wilderness thus:

So diverse are the conditions jungles present that it “I hiked the 1.5 mile route to see the
is incredibly difficult to know what best to do in any wreckage. I was healthy and had not just
situation. The neutrality of the jungle poses simultaneous suffered a plane crash, had a guide with
and often unrelated challenges. Some overcome these a machete… and I was exhausted! There
challenges and survive; others do not. Throughout the was a moment when we had to go across a
ages, guerrilla wars have been fought on jungle terrain, single log bridge over a gully 15 feet down
and people have been lost in rainforests. Their attitude filled with rocks. The log was covered with
on the neutrality of the jungle is based on their previous moss and slippery as hell. Tomas the guide
knowledge, resilience and personal struggles to survive. cut me a balancing stick but I was not
Although jungles are rich in resources and home to a prepared to do this. I was going to go on
vast variety of food and medicinal plants, the problem my belly, but Tomas came back across the
is finding the safe thing to eat amongst the thick tree log and walked me backwards”
cover whilst constantly battling mosquitoes, animal
bites and the risk of infection. Mitchell Zuckoff

63

Top: The never-ending chore of clearing lalang, a tropical weed
with pernicious roots, for a path to form the trail. The image shows
Australian troops clearing the airstrip at Kokoda. Image credit:
George Silk, via Wikimedia Commons.

Bottom: A rubber boat left behind by the retreating Japanese. The
well-prepared Japanese had brought the boats to cross the Kumusi
River. Image credit: Australian War Memorial collection, CC0, via
Wikimedia Commons.

Left: Kokoda Track, as it was in 1942. Image credit: SpoolWhippets,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

In the land battle between the Japanese and the
Australians during the Pacific War during World War
2 in the Australian territory of Papua, the Japanese
objective was to seize Port Moresby by overland advance
from their base in the north, following the Kokoda
Trail over the Owen Stanley Range, a region of dense
jungle with steep ascents and descents. The Japanese
advanced within sight of Port Moresby but outran their
supplies. The tactical situation swung in favour of the
Australians as Japanese supplies had to be carried from
their base in Buna through the unforgiving conditions
of the jungles.

The Australian reinforcement, marching from the
south was hampered by logistical problems in isolated
mountainous terrain as were the Japanese, but their
victory lay in their planes and superior aerial supply
techniques. Was it the neutrality of the jungle or the
decisive advantage of the Australians that won them the
victory?

In his book ‘No Surrender: My 30-year War’, Japanese Top to bottom:
army intelligence officer, Hiroo Onoda, recounts
how he held out for three decades in the jungles of Cover of book authored by Hiroo
the Philippines. He set up hideouts, ate plantains (wild Onada.
bananas), trapped animals and obtained water from
streams. A diet of too much meat caused him fevers Hiroo Onoda, as a young officer.
but he found that drinking the sappy juice of palm Image credit: Unknown author, Public
trees brought down his body temperature. He patched domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
his clothes with tree bark, used fibres as thread, and
improvised twigs as needles. Hiroo Onoda surrendering his sword
His compatriot, Shoichi Yokoi, was another soldier to President Ferdinand Marcos of the
who steadfastly held on to the orders not to surrender. Philippines on 11 March 1974 (the
An underlying philosophy compelled these men to stay day he surrendered). Image credit:
hidden in the jungle even though they knew the war had Malacañang Palace, Public domain,
long ended. Yokoi survived primitive life on the island via Wikimedia Commons.
of Guam. His shelters were either lean-to huts, which
often collapsed, or holes dug under bamboo groves.
Obtaining food was a continuous hardship. Using
whatever he could find, he made fire from any lens or
piece of glass or from friction between stones or dried
twigs. He beat the bark of the pago tree for clothing,
fashioned buttons from plastic and handmade buckles
from wire.

Onoda and Yokoi came to terms with the jungle
environment, understood and worked with it because
they believed in their cause. When they were found
after 30 years, they were both in good health and their
appearance belied their age – it was said they even had
no dental cavities. Perhaps we should revert to palm
stems as toothbrushes!

65

Summary of Yokoi’s biography recorded by his nephew, Omi Hatashin
Aged 57, when Yokoi was discovered by local
hunters in 1972, he still clung to the belief that his
life was in danger. He was startled by the sight of
other human beings and feared that he would be
taken as a prisoner of war, the greatest disgrace for
a Japanese soldier and his family. As he was led out
through the jungle, he cried out to be killed.
Two weeks after his discovery, he returned home
to a hero’s welcome, but he was unimpressed
with the country’s post-war developments. After a
media tour of Japan, he married and settled down
in rural Aichi Prefecture. He became a popular TV
personality and an advocate of austere living. He
received about USD300 in back pay and a small
pension.
As he grew older, he became increasingly nostalgic
about the past and returned to Guam with his wife
several times before his death in 1997, aged 82.

Left: Shouichi Yokoi, during his time as an army sergeant. Image credit: 投稿者が出典雑誌より取り込み,
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Right: A reproduction of Yokoi’s Cave, a tourist attraction at Guam located at the original cave site, which
was destroyed by a typhoon. Image credit: Groverva at English Wikipedia, Public domain, via Wikimedia
Commons.

66

At 17, Juliane Koepcke, who ‘fell from the sky’ in the Iquitos
LANSA plane crash on 24 December 1971 was the sole
survivor of a crash into the Peruvian jungles. She was Pucallpa
still harnessed to her plane seat during the 10 000 feet
descent, and landed with minor injuries. Hers was an Lima
11-day ordeal, her unlikely survival being little short of
a miracle. The insects in the jungle stopped short of Approximate flight
eating her alive although maggots infected her wounded route of LANSA
arms. She had learned jungle survival skills from her Flight 508. Image
biologist father, and applied rudimentary first aid to her credit: Wikimedia
numerous wounds, but finding a canister of gasoline, Commons.
she poured it over her maggot-infested arms, probably
saving her life. Hans Wilhelm Koepcke, had also taught The canopy of green glitters in the sun, the chirp, the
his young daughter to always look for a river and follow growl of the planet’s ecosystem – we should work with
its course when lost in the jungle, which she did. it and respect it as opposed to ‘fighting it’. The jungle
Juliane returned to Germany to recover from her injuries. can provide an abundance but if the jungle presents
After receiving her doctorate from the University of problems, we can find ways to avoid and resist them …
Munich, she returned to Peru to conduct research in and come out alive.
mammalogy, and later worked at the Bavarian State There are numerous stories of the brave who survived
Collection of Zoology in Munich. Following the death the jungle with a mixture of courage, endurance and
of her father in 2000, she took over as Director of tenacity, and the brave who, with equal perseverance
Panguana, the research centre founded by her father in and persistence, did not.
1968 in the pristine rainforest of the Amazon basin.
She had been on the way to this centre to celebrate … so, is the jungle neutral? w
Christmas with her father in 1971 when LANSA Flight
508 had been hit by lightning while in flight.

Left: The biological research station Panguana (Peru) in the Year 1971. Image credit: Maria Koepcke
or Hans-Wilhelm Koepcke, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Right: Juliane Koepcke in 2019. Image credit: Cancillería del Perú, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia
Commons.

67

Deforestation:

Through the eyes of 19th century French
explorers and missionaries text excerpts
and period drawings

Daniela Barrier

180 years ago, a French navigator alerts against
deforestation in Penang
Cyrille Pierre Théodore Laplace (1793-1875) was a French
navigator who gained fame for circumnavigating the globe between
1829-32 on board La Favorite. An account of this voyage was
published in 1833 under the title ‘Voyage Autour du Monde par les Mers
de l’Inde et de la Chine’ (Round the World trip via the Indian Ocean
and the South China Sea). Four years later, Laplace again took to the
sea, this time in the direction of Poulo-Pinang (Penang) as captain
of the frigate L’Artémise. In a prophetic account of this voyage,
he alerts to the risks of slash-and-burn deforestation in Penang,
referencing pollution, flooding and climate change. The following
passage describes his inner thoughts while visiting a waterfall
outside Georgetown.

…There was something imposing about the Will they escape the rage for land clearing
venerable aspect of the ancient trees which that seems to have taken over the settlers of
cover the top of the mountain and seem about Poulo-Pinang? I did not dare believe it when I
to be uprooted every minute by the torrent. In followed with my eyes, over the steep sides of
reality, I dreaded this event almost as much for the neighbouring mountains and up to the tops
them as for myself because I was standing at the of the hills, those long reddish scars announcing
foot of the waterfall recognizing the ravages of that the planters, that is to say, the iron and fire,
the axe everywhere, seeing a great number of had passed that way. All the educated people of
these old guests of the forest – once the pride the colony, called by their condition or by their
of this canton and an object of admiration for talents to occupy the first ranks of society, also
visitors – now ignominiously overturned at my blame this frenzy to clear land, which will result,
feet merely to make room for humble nutmeg if it is not soon contained within fair limits, on
trees. I was interested in those mighty trees which the complete denudation of the highlands and
still thrived, and ardently wished that they would consequently, on the drying up of the streams
remain a long time in this impregnable position, which fertilize the plains; and more, it will no
safe from such a fate. doubt cause unfavourable changes to the climate
of Poulo-Pinang…

Background image: Tin mines at Kampar, Perak.
Image credit: Leiden University Library, Public
domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Without cutting down trees, Mankind could not have
evolved out of its primitive condition
In 1893, commissioned by the French Public Ministry (Ministère
de l’Instruction Publique) and sponsored by a private donor, French
anthropologist Louis Lapicque, came to Malaya in order to
study the Semang and the Sakai people. Like most of his 19th
century colleagues, Lapicque went about his task by measuring
and placing different races on a scale of evolution – a technique
called anthropometry, which later became controversial. Here’s
what he wrote when he reached a small Sakai settlement near
Kampung Kota Tampan Air, after days travelling on elephant
back through the deep forests bordering the Perak River and its
tributaries.

When we briefly see the sky again, we and reds lacking in vitality. All around us, as
suddenly feel a nightmarish oppression lifting above our heads, we can feel the oppressive mass
from our chests. It seems to us that we have just of vegetation. Up there, high up, towards the air
spent two days in a cellar (...) But here, there is and the light, the trunks soar, the lianas strain
not even a clearing, strictly speaking. The low- themselves to live and breathe, reaching towards
level vegetation, elsewhere forming a thick the bushy and flowery canopy where invisible
undergrowth, has been cleared leaving only birds chatter. When this whole land was pristine,
a circle of about twenty metres in diameter. the sun never reached the earth, while beneath,
About twenty small roofs made of branches the 50-metre-thick forest reigned everywhere
cluster together haphazardly in this narrow in shadow and decay. Which was best suited
space. Groups of mute and timid Sakai huddle to this environment – the quadrumane leaping
together where the shade is darkest. The air is lightly among the peaks, or the biped nailed to
still, humid and suffocating; light only comes the ground, struggling among the brush? The
in dimly, as if it was almost extinguished. original men, who probably appeared in a forest
The ground, the branches, the huts, the men, like this one, could not raise and find their place
everything has the same earthy hue of greys in the world except by cutting down trees…

70

Tin mines ruin the landscape forever
Abbé Father Pierre Borie, a missionary from the Catholic
Society of the Foreign Missions of Paris, arrived in Melaka in
1847 having received instructions to minister the Orang Mantra.
He was to live for over 25 years amongst the Orang Mantra and
to establish a thriving settlement of indigenous converts called
Maria Pindah. His life-long experience in Melaka is recounted in
‘La Presqu’île de Malacca et les Sauvages’, which he wrote in 1886
after retiring to Paris. The excerpt below is from Chapter IV
‘Mines, Plantations, Nutmeg, Clove and Sugarcane diseases,
Manioc, Pepper, Gambier, Rubbers’.

…A Chinese who suffers from ‘mine unproductive, everyone is ruined, but no one
fever’– and every Chinese has it – first consults complains and everyone starts over again, this
a pawang tima (sorcerer, diviner) to choose the time in the hope of stumbling upon a rich
right piece of land for his mine. His land found, vein. Mines have been exhausted all over the
he looks for a financial backer who provides British territory of Malacca, but many are still
tools and supplies, rice, dry fish, etc, whatever productive in Djohor. Several district chiefs
is needed to feed the coolies, or labourers. Then of the interior of the Peninsula, however, do
he calls together his companions, agrees a not want to allow tin mines to be opened on
monthly pledge, and secures a share of the their territories, for the reason that the miners
profit with all members of his kongsi (clan disturb the land by digging wide and deep pits,
society). If the mine is abundant, everyone which they never refill again. The mines give
gains; if it is only sufficient, two men alone a temporary profit but completely ruin the
make profit – the supplier and the Taukeh country for centuries, if not forever, and often
(the head of the workers). If the mine is at loss…

71

Top: Illustration 1. The summit of Anak-Gunung-Boutrou. Land
clearing at an altitude of 3500 feet. de Saint-Pol Lias, another 19th
century French explorer and engineer who visited Perak, recorded in
drawing the cutting down of the forest to make place for plantations
in his narrative ‘Pérak et les Orang Sakeys – Voyage dans l’intérieur de la
Presqu’île Malaise’ (1883).
Facing Page:

Top: Illustration 2. ‘A mining site, probably in Perak’. Trees give way
to a mine in this drawing by Jacques de Morgan, perhaps the most
prolific writer and sketcher amongst his contemporaries.
Bottom: Illustration 3. Sakai village near Supitan. Drawing by
Gotombe in Louis Lapicque’s ‘À la recherche de négritos’ (1896).

72

73

Sustainable Forest
Management (SFM)

Mutual Agreement between the
Needs of Man and Nature’s
Continuity

V. Jegatheesan & Kishokumar Jeyaraj

Sustainable Forest Management is a term much bandied
about by the Government, Non-Governmental
Organisations and the concerned people of Malaysia.
Has it become a cliché term for many who may not
really understand what it is, howling mismanagement
and corruption? There is a lot more to Sustainable
Forest Management than simply ‘cut carefully and
replant’, which is the common perception of most
people. This article seeks to give an understanding of
Sustainable Forest Management (SFM), its background
in Peninsular Malaysia, and how it is managed. Sabah
and Sarawak are autonomous regions and beyond the
scope of this article.
While Sustainable Forest Management has long been
practised in some form, the Principles of Sustainable
Forest Management were brought to the forefront at
the Rio Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
in 1992.
In simple terms, we summarise as follows:

Sustainable Forest Management is the conduct of
forestry for economic needs, safeguarding tropical
forests, their habitats and the carbon reserves they
contain, while also providing for the social and
economic needs of the people who depend on them.

Image credit: T. R. Shankar Raman,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.



Legal, Policy and Extent of Forest Biological
Institutional Framework Forest Resources Diversity

Economic

Socio-economic SFM Forest Health
Functions of Forests and Vitality
Environment
Social

Productive Functions Protective Functions
of Forest Resources of Forest Resources

Thus, SFM is a balance between economic, Forests are a genetic resource providing growth for
environmental and social needs. As shown in the numerous species via pollination by birds, animals and
diagram above, there are further elements surrounding insects who depend on forests.
these three main pillars. Social: Does it affect the livelihood of the community
Economic: Is it viable? The benefits accruing to those that relies on the forest for food, medicine, shelter and
extracting from the forests should exceed the costs they other needs? Any activity must take into account the
incur. requirements of the surrounding communities and – in
Environment: Is it sound? Does it alter natural many areas – the indigenous peoples, and not put them
processes such as climate, prevention of flooding, at a disadvantage.
siltation, water quality and carbon capture? SFM should In addition, The United Nations has contributed its
ensure a remnant ecosystem that is capable of renewal. own set of Sustainable Development Goals aimed at
How does it affect the biodiversity of flora and fauna? a positive impact of Sustainable Forest Management.

Income Provide Provide Fresh Carbon Bio-
to fight wild medical water capture diversity
poverty plants
fruits & and
game storage

76

Maps showing depletion of forests
over 40 years since the 1960s
for development and economic
benefits.

Left: Vegetation map of Malaya,
1962. It gives an idea of the type
and expanse of the forests. The
areas highlighted with yellow
transparent shade are areas
impacted. The green marks forests
still remaining. They are managed
by the Forestry Department and are
not logged. The map was compiled
by J. Wyatt-Smitt, Silvicultural
Research Officer, Division of
Forestry, Ministry of Agriculture and
Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur.

Right: The green areas on this
2000 composite map indicate
managed forests including state
parks. The parks include Taman
Negara, Royal Belum State
Park, Krau Wildlife Reserve and
Ulu Muda Forest Reserve. This
composite map was produced by
the Department of Agriculture.

Development of Sustainable Forest Management

Forest management is not new to Malaysia. The earliest Since the 1970s, the Federal Government has been
record proposed in 1879 by Major McNair identified trying to harmonise the forest policy. This is because
the principle of defining timber trees and the need for Forestry Administration is not a federal matter but a state
a forestry department. In 1901, a Forestry Department responsibility. A National Forestry Council (NFC) was
was established by H.N. Ridley with the appointment convened on 20 December 1971 by the National Land
of a Chief Forest Officer for both the Federated Malay Council, comprising the Chief Ministers of the thirteen
States and the Straits Settlements. The focus was on states, chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister. The NFC
economic forest products, high value heavy hardwood served as a forum for the federal and state governments
timber such as chengal and balau. Improved felling on problems and issues relating to forestry policy,
systems and promoting natural growth of heavy and administration and management. In 1978, consensus
light hardwoods were recognized. on forest management and administration was reached
In 1952, an Interim policy was instituted for the and a National Forestry Policy 1978 (Revised 1992)
Federation of Malaya (Kelantan and Kedah excepted) (NFP) was adopted. It affirms State responsibility for
which laid out the familiar principles, and in the process Sustainable Forest Management but stresses that forest
creating two categories as follows: law enforcement should be guided by the NFP.
The National Forestry Act, 1984 (Revised 1993) was
Protected Forests: Maintaining sound climate, created to ensure effective implementation of the
safeguarding water supplies, soil fertility, revised National Forestry Policy 1978 (Revised 1992).
prevention of floods and erosion, environment The Malaysian Forestry Policy 2020, approved at the
quality and biological diversity. 78th National Land Council meeting in January 2021, is
Production Forests: To supply economically the first policy document on forest matters that covers
within the country, all forms of forest produce all three regions of the country – Peninsular Malaysia,
required for agriculture, domestic and industrial Sabah and Sarawak. It will replace the National Forestry
purposes. Policy 1978 (Revised 1992).

Early principles of sustainable management thus began.

77

How is it Implemented Administration

Implementation begins with a policy followed by Forests are under the jurisdiction of the state as specified
laws and an administration before the brass tacks of and laid out in the Federal Constitution. Article 74 (2)
sustainability is considered. of Federal Constitution related with List II in the Ninth
Policy Schedule of Federal Constitution specifies that, under
The National Forestry Policy 1978 (Amended 1992) this provision, the Legislature of a State may make laws
calls for the establishment of a classified and managed and regulations for the administration and management
forest under four major functions: of forestry matters in that state. Management of forests
is therefore not a simple matter in Malaysia, which has a
federal government as well as state governments.

1. Protection Forest Forestry administration structure in Peninsular Malaysia
2. Production Forest is divided into three levels, namely the Federal, State and
3. Amenity Forest district levels, with each state having its own forestry
4. Research and Education Forest department headed by the State Director of Forestry
who is responsible to the Chief Minister of the state.
Laws The Federal Government does not have any power
to enforce the forestry laws in the States. The State
The Laws of Malaysia Act 313 National Forestry Act Director of Forestry is usually assisted by two Deputy
1984 provides for the administration, management and Directors (Forest Development and Forest Operation)
conservation of forests and its development within the and other officers, namely Forest Management Officer
States of Malaysia and for connected purposes. Salient and Silvicultural Officer.
aspects are noted below: The District Forest Officer, assisted by a deputy
and several uniformed field staff, heads the forestry
• Timber production forest under sustained yield administration at the district level. The District Forest
• Soil protection forest Officers report directly to the State Director of Forestry.
• Soil reclamation forest At the federal level, the Director General of the federal
• Flood control forest Department of Forestry is answerable to the Federal
• Water catchment forest Minister of the Ministry of Energy and Natural
• Forest sanctuary for wildlife Resources, Malaysia.
• Virgin jungle reserved forest The main responsibility of the federal Forestry
• Amenity forest Department is to give policy advice to the federal
• Education forest government as well as technical advice to the state
• Research forest forestry departments such as harvesting rates, cutting
• Forest for federal purposes limits, establishment of plantations, maintenance of
trail stations and demonstration stations, training and
Apart from the National Forestry Act 1984, other acts research. Professional and sub professional foresters
of major importance to forestry are listed below: are appointed by the federal government and seconded
to the state governments.
• Federal Constitution of Malaysia
• National Land Code 1965
• Financial Procedure Act 1967 (Amendment 1993)
• Water Enactment 1935
• Land Conservation Act 1960
• Protection of Wildlife Act 1972 (Amendment 1976 &

1988)
• Malaysian Timber Industry Board Act 1973
• Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Amendment 1995)
• National Park Act 1980 (Amendment 1983)
• Forestry Research & Development Board Act 1985
• Biosafety Act 2007

78

The Brass Tracks of Sustainable Forest Management

Pre-1970s, the Malayan Uniform System was considered The natural tropical forests of Peninsular Malaysia
appropriate for its time. All commercial trees not less are classified into three broad forest types, namely
than 45cm diameter at breast height (dbh) were allowed Dry Inland Forest or Dipterocarp Forest, Peat Swamp
to be logged if there was sufficient regeneration of the Forest and Mangrove Forest.
species on the forest floor, based on the intensity of An annual coupe is established by the National Forestry
demand for forest products. It required a long recovery Council. A coupe is a specified area of forest identified
period as it depended on regrowth from seedlings. for timber harvesting and subsequent regeneration.
Post 1970s, the Selective Management System was It is harvested in five years i.e. within a Malaysia Plan
adopted. This imposed cutting limits relevant to the period. Harvesting in this way avoids unrestricted
particular forest area, economical extracting and felling and ensures effective and proper planning. The
ensuring residual trees at a level of good growth for the annual coupe is based on the growing stock of trees,
next cycle. This system theoretically shortened the cycle the net production areas for the period and net volume
by utilising/ depending on advanced growth of saplings increment. The pre-felling inventory will determine the
and smaller diameter trees. The forest structure is not total amount of harvest of required species.
greatly changed. The resulting gaps due to logging If there are ten trees in a coupe, for example, and only
encourage regeneration and growth. two are required, then only those two will be cut, leaving
Selective Management System elements are: the residual trees. Trees to be cut must be greater than
65cm dbh for dipterocarp trees and 55cm dbh for
Annual Coupe others. However, trees are also cut to provide pathways
Pre-felling inventory for accessing and removing the cut trees.
Actual felling, cutting limits and residual stands To ensure that the forest is better conserved, the annual
Post-felling inventory including silviculture coupe in Peninsular Malaysia has been scaled down for
Regenerated forests after 25 years or so each Malaysian Plan starting from the 4th Malaysia Plan
Implementation has to consider annual felling coupes, in the 1980s.
cutting limits and residual stands. For productive On average, in a natural forest stand (area), each hectare
forests, the rates of extraction are determined to ensure comprises 500-800 trees with dbh above 10cm and
good yield.

A deforested area.
Image credit: T. R. Shankar Raman,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

79

A Caterpillar forest vehicle moving heavy tropical timber.
Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas
via Wikimedia Commons.

about 1500 to 1800 trees with dbh above 5cm. There forest. These methods, however, require roads to be
must be at least 32 trees of any species left in a hectare, laid to access the forest. Nowadays, special helicopters
with a diameter of between 32 and 45cm. This is to are used to lift the felled trees out of the forest, causing
allow for regeneration and future felling. All this reduces even less damage. The logs are stacked in an open area
the impact of logging. and then transported by lorry or by trains to sawmills.

Prior to the cutting, work is done to clear the area for Forests are not homogenous in that there are many
the safe fall, and pathways are prepared. Chainsaws are species, or stock, in a given area. Commonly harvested
commonly used in logging. The usual method to fell a species from natural forests include Meranti (Shorea
tree is to cut a wedge at a convenient place just above spp.), (spp means several species of the genus), Keruing
the base. The wedge is cut in the direction of the fall. (Dipterocarpus spp.), and Merbau (Intsia spp.), although many
Then the tree is cut behind the wedge and as the tree more species are harvested. In Malaysia, dipterocarps
comes loose, it will fall over the wedge in the required for example, especially red meranti, are in demand as
direction. they make good furniture.

After the coupe has been logged, there is a requirement The Peat Swamp Forest in Peninsular Malaysia is
for post-felling inventory of remaining trees. There is managed using the ‘modified’ Selected Management
a need for silviculture to manage the establishment, System. This involves a 40-year cycle and higher cutting
regrowth, composition, health, and quality of forests limits.
to ensure the logged areas will grow into the next In Peninsula Malaysia, the Mangrove Forest is
generation within 25 years. managed by cutting cycles of between 20 and 30 years.
Extraction of the cut trees can cause considerable The mature trees are clear-felled. Seven ‘mother’ trees
damage to the wider forest. Tractors make peripheral are left in each hectare. To ensure natural regeneration
damage by taking out the felled trees. Log fishers are and to protect the environment, a three-meter wide
a better method as they only stay in a cleared path. A river bank and a coastal strip are created. The Matang
long chain is pulled to the felled tree, hooked on and Mangrove Forest Reserve is known to be the best
then dragged out, causing much less damage to the managed mangrove forest in Malaysia.

80

Mangrove Forest at Pulau Kukup, Johor. Peat Swamp Forest.
Image credit: Christian Hinz, CC BY-SA 3.0 Image credit: Toni Wöhrl, CC BY-SA 4.0
via Wikimedia Commons.
via Wikimedia Commons.

Ensuring Effectiveness

There are two aspects to ensuring effectiveness. While The Standards are structured around the principles
on the one hand there is legislation and policies, it is shown below.
the consumer on the other hand who plays a major The timber and its products must be certified based
role to ensure compliance. This goes beyond borders on whether it complies with the above principles.
from the national to the transnational, which results This is done by certifications, logos and statements
in greater effectiveness. To begin with, a Malaysian on packaging. Traceability to the sources and their
Timber Certification Scheme by the Malaysian Timber compliance is another way the consumer can play a
Certification Council is developed. This is known as role. Do products come from forests that have caused
the Malaysian Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable deforestation or done with poor worker conditions,
Forest Management – Forest Plantation & Natural exploitation and destructive extraction methods?
Forest, MC&I SFM 1/2020. These mirror the Forest Though tracing wood and paper-based products is not
Stewardship Council Certification which is the most straightforward as there could be many inputs from
common and pervasive standard globally. many sources.

Principle #1: Compliance with laws
Principle #2: Workers’ rights and employment conditions

Principle #3: Indigenous peoples’ rights
Principle #4: Community relations
Benefits from the forest
Principle #5: Environmental values and impact
Principle #6:
Principle #7: Management planning
Principle #8: Monitoring and assessment
High conservation values
Principle #9: Implementation of management activities
Principle #10:

81

Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, via Wikimedia Commons.

Production and Export

While the focus is on Peninsular Malaysia, the
contribution to the total Malaysian economy gives an
idea of the importance of the timber industry to the
country. According to the Malaysian Timber Council,
the total Malaysian industry production in 2019,
(leaving out 2020 due to reduced activity because of
lockdowns), was about 17.0 million m3 of logs, of which
around 8% was exported in round logs, for a value of
around RM 760 million, while the total exports of just
the main primary timber products, sawn timber, veneer
and plywood accounted for a value of around RM 6.9
billion. Remaining products total RM 14.8 billion of
which wooden furniture is RM 9 billion.
Top export destinations are to the United States of
America, Japan, China, Australia and Singapore.

Andrew Garton, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

82

Resultant Impact - Success and Failure

Undoubtedly, Sustainable Forest Management has
an ultimate impact on the entire spectrum of wood-
based products. Exactly what and to what extent is still
open to debate. Environmentalists and communities
impacted by unsustainable practices consider sustainable
practices effective. But the industry itself considers such
requirements a hindrance, ultimately affecting profits.

Timber products begin with the logs. From these,
numerous products result, ranging from sawn timber,
veneer, plywood, housing, fuel, furniture, panelling,
paper and more for consumer use. Then there are
others such as fencing, scaffolding and many more
industrial uses.

Previously, uncontrolled logging provided a continuous Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
supply of logs for timber with no consideration to the
future supply. The controlled availability of logs may Restoration of Forests
have had an initial adjustment in the output of products
since Sustainable Forest Management was introduced. Next to the natural regrowth of coupes after they
But the ensured continuous availability of logs for a have been felled, reforestation is another effort in
long time to come will over time have benefited the mitigating the loss of forests. Reforestation is simply
output of products. In any case, other species are the rehabilitation or enhancement of degraded
gaining popularity, such as rubberwood, acacia and even forests. It enriches various selected species and helps
pine. biodiversity, as well as adding food sources for plants
Clearly, the Sustainable Forest Management practice and the restoration of habitats. Fully thrashed forests
scenario will generate the sustainable growth of the can be restored with matrix planting of selected species
timber-based industry and help to enhance Peninsular to stimulate regrowth on its own.
Malaysia’s forest conservation goals.

This is as opposed to afforestation, which is establishing
a forest in an area which was not previously forest.
Compensatory planting is when completely denuded
forests are replanted with timber species to create a
timber plantation to compensate for the drop in natural
forest timber. The first test areas were in Batu Arang,
Johor and Kemasul, Pahang. Unfortunately, all these
areas have not been successful and the Batu Arang
plantation has already been converted to rubber.

Commonly harvested species from plantations include
Acacia (Acacia spp.), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) and
Rubberwood (Hevea brasiliensis).

Bernard Dupont, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Restored forests offer an opportunity to accommodate
the surrounding communities, the flora by species
selection and the fauna by providing pathways for
animal movement.

83

Threats

There are, however, many threats to the forests of be mini hydro projects, which have a low and localised
Malaysia. While some are classified as threats, they are impact.
also necessary for national development, food provision
and industry. Mining
Mining has led to the clearing of forests and the setting
Illegal Logging up of the resultant mining infrastructure such as roads,
Illegal, indiscriminate and uncontrolled logging is camps and waste polluting rivers and the environment.
a threat. Loggers fell the trees they require without
regard to proper felling practices. The result is a Commercial Plantations – A Necessary Evil
destroyed forest with unnecessary trees cut merely for Rubber, oil palm and other commercial crops, such as
easy passage; the environmental damage of unplanned pepper, result in forests being cleared. As oil palm has
clearing for roads, temporary housing, land and water become a major earner for the country since the 1970s,
pollution; the loss of resources for the local people and the conversion from rubber plantations to oil palm
even threats to their life; and a wasteland left behind initially mitigated forest loss. But with world demand
after the logging is done. growing, more land is being cleared for plantations.
Large consumers of these plantation products now
The Forestry Department is trying to counter illegal need to be convinced that the forest clearing does not
logging by using real-time technology. These latest have any environmental or social impacts.
technologies include the Forest Monitoring Using
Remote Sensing (FMRS) system which uses satellite Housing development, resettlement and farming
imagery, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones), In some parts of the country, the expansion of towns
hyperspectral imaging and a Geographical Information requires the surrounding forests to be cleared for
System (GIS) for quick and accurate information. housing and vegetable plots.

Energy Felling Methods and Residual Stand Management
Electrical power is essential for a nation and its growth Logging processes can also damage unlogged trees if
but the construction of dams to provide hydroelectric not supervised. Falling trees and extraction of felled
power has been highly controversial. Large swathes of trees can cause crown injury, broken stems, bark and
forest in the Kenyir landfill dam and the Bakun dam wood damage, uprooted trees, leaning and buttress
have been inundated. Yet dams are needed because they injury. These are mitigated if proper practices and
are cheaper and non-polluting. An alternative would better equipment are used.

Conclusion

Malaysia is committed to implementing Sustainable wood and all its numerous uses. Fortunately, the use
Forest Management. It is a major effort applied to vast of alternative sources of wood – e.g. from specifically
forests reaching out to the remotest areas. Managed by planted forests – are now being promoted, rather than
the Forestry Department, which itself stretches out taken from natural forests.
into the remotest districts, there is always the risk of The solution does not rest with one country, its
inefficiency and corruption. Whether it is successful or government and related agencies. The suppliers,
not is not as relevant, however, as the fact that Malaysia manufacturers, certifiers and importantly, the
is doing its best to implement Sustainable Forest consumers, also have an integral role to play. All parties
Management. and all countries must collaborate to find acceptable
Consider that the most economic product is wood. It solutions. Ensuring Sustainable Forest Management is
is not just the vital role that wood plays in our lives practised will ultimately benefit the stakeholders and
that has had these far-reaching impacts on our forests,
however. It is that there have been no alternatives to preserve the nation’s forests for future generations. w

84

Area of Peninsular Malaysia 13.21 million hectares

Forested Area 5.73 million hectares
Non-Forested Area 7.48 million hectares

Permanent Reserved Forest 4.81 million hectares
Percentage of Forested Area 83.94%

Permanent Reserved Forest by Type 4.35
Inland Forest 0.25
Peat Swamp Forest 0.09
Mangrove 0.12
Forest Plantation

Permanent Reserved Forest by Function 1.83
Protection Forest 2.98
Production Forest

Forest Reserves 0.24
State Land Forest 0.58
Wildlife Forest Park 0.00
Other Forested Reserve

Proposed Permanent Reserved Forest 0.09 million hectares

Production (Million Cubic Metres)

Logs 3.91
Sawn Timber 2.67
Plywood 0.37
Veneer 0.09
Mouldings 0.19

Statistics for the year 2019 by the Forestry Department
of Peninsula Malaysia (https://www.forestry.gov.my).

85

Gunungan:

The Mountain Motif in South East Asian Art

Adib Faiz

Monuments, ascending to the heavens above. Giants, straddling the earth
beneath. Creatures of majesty and beauty, the mountains emerged from
beneath the surface, pushed upward by the heat of the ground and the
clash of seismic forces. Dominating the horizon for centuries, they have
watched from the sky, silent witnesses to the passage of history. While
mountains have dominated South East Asia’s geographical landscape, they
have also entered into the art and culture of the region. The gunungan motif
– the motif of the ‘mountain’ or the ‘peak’ – has been a feature of Malay
and Indonesian art across the ages. To understand this motif is to take a
journey of discovery, one that transports us through the complex religious
and cultural history of the region.

Wayang Kulit ‘Gunugan’ props in the
collection of Department of Museums.
Malaysia. Image credit: Maganjeet Kaur.

To appreciate the significance of the gunungan motif, being no exception. Mountains are an important
one must first understand the role that the mountain part of Islam’s sacred history and geography. Moses
plays in South East Asia’s various belief systems. Prior received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai – a
to the arrival of Islam, animistic and Hindu-Buddhist location mentioned more than once in the Qur’an –
beliefs were the region’s dominant religions and social and the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) received the initial
forces. The gunungan motif is often identified with revelation of the Qur’an on the Mountain of Light
Mount Meru, the sacred mountain of Hindu-Buddhist (Al-Jabal An-Nur). Moreover, mountains are mentioned
belief. In Hindu mythology, Mount Meru is not a mere in the Qur’an, such as in the verse ‘Had We made this
geographical feature – it is the dwelling place of gods, Quran descend upon a mountain, thou wouldst have
the axis of the world and the centre of the universe. seen it humbled, rent asunder by the fear of God.
Hence, it is hardly surprising that South East Asian These are the parables We set forth for mankind, that
religious art began to reflect these beliefs, with temples haply they may reflect.’ (Qur’an 59:21). Whatever the
covered by towering roofs representing Mount Meru. outward differences between South East Asia’s religious
A good example of such a structure is Pura Ulun traditions, the mountain is a universal symbol, identified
Danu Bratan, a ‘meru tower’ in Bali that acts as a Hindu with forces beyond the material world.
Shaivite temple. It is in light of the mountain’s universal symbolism that
James Bennett points out in Crescent Moon: Islamic Art the gunungan motif may be better understood and
and Civilization in Southeast Asia that Meru and other appreciated. In the book Spirit of Wood, Farish Noor
Hindu-Buddhist symbols were absorbed into local and Eddin Khoo point out that the gunungan motif is
beliefs, with a Javanese story identifying Meru as ‘a found ‘in practically every major cultural or civilizational
mountain implanted in Java to stabilise the island’. By grouping’, from South America to ancient China. It is
the time Islam arrived in South East Asia, the symbol a ‘pyramidal structure’, with a base at the bottom and
of meru ‘had been around the archipelago for almost two sides sloping upward toward the ‘peak’. Although
a thousand years’. Moreover, the mountain is also a it is a triangle in two dimensions, it takes the form of
powerful symbol in Abrahamic religions, with Islam a pyramid or cone in three dimensions. The authors

Pura Ulun Danu Bratan.
Image credit: CEphoto, Uwe Aranas,
via Wikimedia Commons.

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Carving on mimbar at
Masjid Losong Haji Mohd.

assert that the motif is an ‘empty signifier’ onto which the makara – a symbol of water and fertility, which
multiple meanings were etched, and they offer various was later abstracted into ‘tendril-like extensions.’ The
ways of interpreting the motif. frequent use of these extensions at the base of the
However, we can see the motif in two general ways. On gunungan lends a dynamic upward tilt to the whole
the one hand, the gunungan can be viewed statically, as structure. An exceptional example of this is the mimbar
something to contemplate objectively. This is like looking (pulpit) in Masjid Losong Haji Mohd, where a gold-
at a mountain from a distance; we behold the whole coloured gunungan is made even more brilliant through
structure in all its power, and appreciate it externally. exceedingly large sulur bayu.
This allows one to see the gunungan as ‘a symbol of However, it would be a mistake to link every single
power, authority and unity’, as well as of ‘divine power, motif on the gunungan to the archipelago’s Hindu-
social order, [and] hierarchy’. On the other hand, the Buddhist past. As Norhaiza Noordin, one of Malaysia’s
gunungan can also be viewed dynamically, as something greatest living woodcarvers, has pointed out, the region
to participate in subjectively. This is akin to climbing or of Pattani was a trading hub with a variety of influences
descending the mountain; we experience the symbol as entering the local artistic vocabulary of areas such as
part of our own journey, and identify with the meanings Kelantan. Moreover, the floral motifs on a gunungan are
contained within. We can see the sloping sides of the often taken from the surrounding natural environment.
gunungan as either ascending towards the peak as a goal, In one mid-nineteenth century Kelantanese gateway,
or descending from the peak as its point of origin. the gunungan ‘resembles a fan of daun bawang bakong, a
Despite the inherent symbolism of the gunungan’s type of lily, interwoven with the leaves of two grasses,
pyramidal structure, it almost never appears as a the ketam guri plant and the hayseed’. According to
purely geometric shape. Instead, the gunungan is Farish Noor and Eddin Khoo, such plants ‘would have
rendered through various artistic motifs, with a grown in profusion in the immediate vicinity of both
history and meaning of its own. The gunungan often the nobleman’s residence, and the carver’s workshop’.
features alongside other motifs of Hindu-Buddhist The gunungan was thus integrated into the natural
origin, which were gradually transformed through the surroundings, an embodiment of the harmony that
influence of Islam. Some examples are provided in exists between human society and nature in traditional
Spirit of Wood. Motifs such as the naga (serpent), garuda Malay life.
berjuang (rampant garuda) and the stupa have been used in The gunungan is also used alongside Arabic calligraphic
conjunction with gunungan motifs adorning quail traps. inscriptions, with the motif sitting alongside Islamic
Over time, these figurative images became abstracted prayers and invocations. In traditional cultures, art
into floral motifs, mirroring ‘the new Islamic ethos in never exists purely for its own sake. It is like a bridge,
the region’. The sulur bayu motif probably began as connecting us back to that which is truly real. For

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Muslims, the written word has a special significance, ‘alaihi wasallam’ (peace and blessings be upon him)
the Qur’an being the uncreated word of God. Hence, inscribed at the very centre of the gunungan, reminding
it is hardly surprising that the ancient symbol of the the believer to send blessings upon the Prophet
gunungan can be found in Qur’anic manuscripts in Muhammad (pbuh). In a Kelantanese arch kept by the
South East Asia. This motif can be found in Qur’ans Department of Museums Malaysia, one sees an Islamic
from Java to Terengganu, illuminating the central pages phrase associated with God’s power placed in close
in the form of double-decorated frames. proximity to the gunungan: ‘Verily God has power over
Moreover, this combined use of the gunungan and all things.’ On Batu Aceh gravestones, the gunungan is
Arabic calligraphy is not restricted to Qur’an manuscripts, often used together with a ‘ladder’ motif, with boxes
with calligraphy accompanying the gunungan motifs on arranged vertically until they reach the gunungan. It
a variety of objects. These inscriptions seem to have is hardly accidental that the words inscribed in these
been selected to fulfil specific functions or meanings. In boxes are the shahadah, the declaration of faith that all
a gunungan placed over a doorway to the Istana Balai Muslims hope to utter before leaving this worldly abode.
Besar in Kota Bharu, one sees the beginning of the It is not too far-fetched to interpret these declarations
Ayat Al-Kursi (‘The Verse of the Throne’), a Qur’anic as various degrees of faith that lead one to the eternal
verse traditionally recited for protection. The mimbar abode, symbolised here by the mountain peak motif.
in Masjid Losong Haji Mohd has the words ‘sallallahu

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This leads us to the layered pyramid, a common called mahkota (crown). The summit of the gunungan is
manifestation of the gunungan in mosque architecture. thus identified not only with the summit of the social
In many traditional South East Asian mosques, the order, but also the summit of the spiritual order, God
prayer hall of a mosque features a pyramidal roof that being the King of all His Creation. We may also identify
covers the entire structure. On the one hand, this design this summit with the believer’s own royalty of nature, a
is a response to climatic conditions, allowing heavy goal to be realised through one’s persistent journey up
rainfall to flow downward with minimal pressure. On the the mountain.
other hand, the pyramidal roof design is also identified
with the cosmic mountain, the roof form being termed The journey: having traversed the past, we return to
bumbung meru (meru roof). Regardless of whether the the present, having caught only a glimpse of what lies
symbolism was initially intended, it is clear that the behind the gunungan. The motif of the mountain is part
roof is more than a utilitarian feature. The meru roof is of our heritage, with historical forces pushing it to the
usually tiered, often broken into three levels. These tiers forefront of our artistic imagination. Yet the gunungan
represent three dimensions of religion: ibadat (outward also has a quality that transcends history, pointing us
practice), iman (faith), and ihsan (virtue, literally ‘making to what lies above and beyond this world. Though it
beautiful’). Bringing the symbol of the mountain and the has shaped our cultural landscape, the gunungan also
notion of degrees together, one arrives at the concept of orients us towards our inner landscape, reminding us
spiritual ascent. As a spiritual traveller, the believer must
climb the mountain, going through various degrees of that the true path of ascent lies within. w
realisation until finally reaching the peak. Moreover, the
apex of the roof is often crowned by a decorative roof Below: A 19th century Javanese Quran at
finial. Though the motifs and interpretations of these National Museum, Malaysia. Image credit
finials vary widely, they all serve to draw attention to the Maganjeet Kaur.
peak. In Melaka, the ornate finials of meru mosques are
Facing page: Kelantanese arch in the
collection of the Department of Museums,
Malaysia. Image credit: Adib Faiz.

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Malay Woodcarving
and Spirituality

Afidah Rahim

All over the world, the environment shapes human Both artefacts are made of hardwood; jati for the door
culture. The Malay World was mainly built on wood panels and merbau for the chest. These woods are very
sourced from the surrounding rainforest. The tree durable and resistant to infestation. Woodcarvers need
holds an esteemed position in the Malay psyche on hardy tools to work with these dense woods when
behalf of the semangat (vital force) that they exude. In etching out the details. Traditionally, woodcarvers use
the use of trees for wood and woodcarving, Malays pay an implement called a pisau wali. In Malay, wali means
careful attention to the choice of tree and its balance a guardian or custodian. This tool thus implies a sense
with nature. Reverence and awe for the natural world of responsibility for its user. Adam Williamson, who
is part of Malay woodcarving apprenticeship. Virgin had learned the techniques of Malay woodcarving in
nature also serves as a support for the remembrance of Kelantan, describes the ecstasy of working with the
its Creator. grain of the wood as he surrenders to it to bring out
With the coming of Islam, the Malay woodcarver its character.
acquired the opportunity to extol the glory of God and Little is known about either of our woodcarving
deepen his spirituality through his craft. Also, in service artefacts. In true Islamic art fashion, the woodcarvers
of Islam, the woodcarver has a duty to remind others are anonymous. The main function of an Islamic artist
of God in their daily lives. By careful consideration is to release the natural beauty of the object so as to
of the elements of woodcarving, a woodcarver may make it apparent. Based on Hadith Sahih Muslim 911,
elevate his craft into art. Islamic art acts as a ladder the Prophet said: ‘God is beautiful and He loves beauty’.
between the material and spiritual worlds through the
use of arabesques, geometry and calligraphy.

Two woodcarving artefacts in Gallery B Muzium Facing page: Door panels inscribed with
Negara that represent Islamic Art are the wooden door Quranic verses on display at Gallery B,
panels and the inscribed wooden chest. Both are likely National Museum, Malaysia.
to be twentieth century artefacts. The lacquer-painted
carved door panels are a more recent feature in Malay Background image: Wooden panel carved
woodcarving, which traditionally celebrates the natural with a passage from the Quran, from the
colour of wood, as in the case of the chest. The choice National Museum’s collection, originally from
of Quranic verses on these artefacts will be explored a Terengganu palace.
since Islamic art invites fikir (contemplation) as well as
zikir (remembrance of God).

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Top: Wooden chest on display at the National
Museum, Malaysia.

Bottom: Top section of the wooden
chest, inscribed with Quranic verse 31 of

Surah Ali-Imran in thuluth script.

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Since the mind and soul of the devoted woodcarver is The calligraphy used on these door panels is a
inspired by God, the final object has a precious quality, combination of naskh, thuluth and local (Malay-Sino)
reflecting peace, joy and comfort. scripts. Since both surahs begin midway, one wonders
Our first artefact, the wooden door panels originate if the other side of the door shows the opening lines of
from Java. They would have most likely adorned a the surahs. The overall theme of these surahs depicts
mosque or a wealthy home. While the scallop-like heaven, thus making for an optimistic reminder.
gunungan motif framing the calligraphy is a legacy from Now that we have considered the woodcarver’s
the region’s Hindu past, its main decoration is not for consciousness in creating these door panels from its
mere ornamentation but an expression of the attributes material choice to its motifs and messages, we may
of God. The arabesque features flowering shrub motifs appreciate the spirituality invested in this artefact as a
in golden tones. This intertwining pattern is known vehicle for transcendence.
as awan larat (meandering clouds) that implies infinity, Next, let us examine the wooden chest of unknown
with no beginning nor end, thus alluding that God is origin. It measures 82 x 40.5 x 55cm. Approximately
limitless and eternal. The arabesque contains embedded a hundred years old, this chest was used for storing
messages pertaining to Islamic values. The vegetal clothes, an everyday item to act as a daily reminder for
scrolls give a sense of rhythmic flow, reminiscent of the believers. Customarily, the clothes would have been
the soothing tones of Quranic recitation. Vegetation is stored along with star anise and fragrant flowers like
a feature of Paradise and a symbol of God’s abundant ylang-ylang and cempaka. The chest is decorated with
blessings. The repetition in the pattern echoes the raised carvings of sunflowers amongst vegetal scrolls.
repeated words and phrases in the Quran, as reminders Sunflowers symbolise a beautiful world, for the sun
to the believers. The mirror image of the two door brings brightness. The lid is inscribed with Quranic
panels reflects the order and symmetry of the universe. verse 31 of Surah Ali-Imran in thuluth script.
Yet, close observation reveals intentional asymmetry This verse assures that believers gain the love of God by
to avoid monotony within the order. The carvings are following the Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w).
raised (ukiran timbul) to give shadow in different light According to Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1987), the great
and a sense of movement. All these design features masters of Islamic art have always shown a special love
combine to provide the artistic depth suitable for sacred and devotion for the Prophet. The sources of Islamic
contemplation. spirituality are the Quran and examples from the life of
On the left-hand side of the door panel are inscriptions the Prophet. Apparently, the woodcarver had inscribed
of verses 17 to 22 of Surah Al-Mu’minun (The the chest so as to remind its readers to follow the ‘way
Believers). The creation of the Seven Heavens is of the Prophet’ (sunnah) in their lives as good Muslims.
mentioned. Then, the reader may contemplate Allah’s In other words, this wooden chest had been designed to
signs and blessings in the rain, vegetation, trees and encourage Islamic tradition in the home environment.
cattle. By choosing these verses, the woodcarver invites Since the environment shapes human culture, these
the reader to appreciate Allah’s creations. For example, items help to make the presence of God felt every day.
in the Malay World context, the rain falls in due measure Our final artefact is an inscribed wooden panel located
for the growth of the rainforest. at the Ethnology of the Malay World Museum. It is
The calligraphy on the right-hand side of the door made from meranti wood and is estimated to be between
panels are verses 15 to 23 of Surah Al-Insan (Man), 30 to 40 years old. This panel most likely hung above
also known as Ad-Dahr (Time). These verses describe a doorway in a mosque. It originates from Sai Buri in
the people of Paradise and the eternal delights they will southern Thailand, also called Telubang by Malays. This
experience; they also recount the favours upon them. district falls within Pattani province, which explains its
Finally, the reader is reminded of Allah’s blessing by Langkasukan style and Quranic features.
revealing the Quran to mankind. Verse 23 addresses the This wooden panel is inscribed in the style of Pattani
Messenger and is a statement from Allah that the Quran Qurans, in which a surah heading contains the name
was sent by Him, refuting claims that the Quran had of the surah, the location where it was revealed and the
been invented. It seems that the woodcarver has chosen
these verses to inspire piety.

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Inscribed wood panel at the Ethnology
of the Malay World Museum.

number of its verses. The triangle on the right reads The second verse says to turn in prayer to the Lord and
‘Surah Al-Kauthar, Makkiyah’ i.e. revealed in Mecca. to sacrifice. Finally, it says that enemies of the Prophet
The left triangle says it has three verses. Al-Kauthar will be cut off. This verse was revealed after the prophet
is the shortest surah and is carved between the two lost his son, whereby in Arab custom, one’s name would
triangles. This panel is therefore, the wooden version cease to be mentioned. When his enemies mocked him,
of a complete Malay manuscript surah. the Prophet was comforted by this revelation. Indeed,
The calligraphy is in thuluth script and is done in the Prophet’s name has been continuously mentioned
low-relief. The vegetal ends reflect a newer style of ever since, while those who mocked him have been
woodcarving with non-overlapping carved-out designs forgotten.
(tebuk tidak silat). Both ends have been pierced through Thus, this inscribed panel reiterates the woodcarver’s
for ventilation. devotion to Allah and His Messenger. Our three
Al-Kauthar in the first verse means the abundance of artefacts demonstrate how Malay woodcarving can
goodness granted to the Prophet Muhammad (s. a. w.) manifest deep spirituality for the artist as well as for

discerning observers. w

Jati (teak) tree at Kiara Hill Park.
Image credit: Afidah Rahim.

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MV Research Team Talk Series

Addressing Forest Landscape Restoration in
Malaysia: Perspectives from Sabah

Dr. Marcel Djama
14 June 2021

In his talk, Marcel Djama discussed the work he is involved with in South East Asia,
especially Malaysia. It centred on forest-related issues and the efforts to mitigate
deforestation whilst also carrying out landscape and ecosystem restoration activities
with various partners.
As an anthropologist, culture is at the core of Marcel’s interests and specialities. Tropical
rainforests are an important part of culture; he considers it a blessing for Malaysia to
have been provided with such wonderful rainforest landscapes and ecosystems, which
are also of global interest and supports lives.

Importance of Rainforest

There are many different forests worldwide, such as found but ten years later 140 more were discovered. In
tropical and temperate forests. Tropical rainforests this sense, tropical rainforests are the most biodiverse
are found in the equatorial region and cover about six ecosystems in the world.
percent of the earth’s land surface. Marcel explained why Third, the rainforest is important for pollinators and
rainforests are important. Firstly, rainforest regulates genetic resources. Flora provides genes that can be
water and climate. It improves water quality by filtering used for developing new edible crops or new variations
rain and regulates the flow of water into the ground. of existing crops. The forest hosts birds, insects and
Tree roots help reduce extreme flooding by allowing animals who in turn play a role in the pollination of
better ground absorption, as well as by filtering water
flowing into rivers, thus preventing siltation and rivers
drying up. Two thirds of healthy drinking water is due
to the good health and maintenance of forest cover.
The decline of rainforests, however, reduces drinking
water quality. The rainforest is an important carbon sink
and controls greenhouse gasses. It plays a buffer role
for mitigating extreme weather and climate changes.

Secondly, the rainforest shelters biodiversity. Not only is
it home to millions of species of flora and fauna, new
ones are discovered every day. In Sarawak for instance,
more than 1000 orchid species have been found, yet it is
thought that these are only a part of what actually exists
there. In Brunei in 1988, 70 endemic plant species were

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trees and plants. Rainforest plants are also a source of Top: Oriental Magpie-robin at Taman Negara. They
new compounds for medicine. act as pollinators to regenerate the forest. Image
Finally, rainforests are important for the livelihood of credit: Bernard Dupont, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia
forest dwellers and the neighbouring communities. Commons.
It is estimated that worldwide some 500 million to Facing Page: Tropical Forest Dragon at Taman Negara.
one billion people are dependent on rainforests. This Image credit: Bernard Dupont, CC BY-SA 2.0, via
includes about 60 million indigenous people who have a Wikimedia Commons.
symbiotic relationship of a social, cultural and spiritual
nature with the rainforests. These groups are threatened economic interests developing along the roads – and
by the expansion of commercial agriculture and ultimately the development of towns. Mining is another
deforestation when in fact they should have a collective driving force. Finally, in order to clear land, forests are
right to be recognised and allowed to make decisions on intentionally set on fire with resultant health hazards
their own lives. and air pollution. These activities are done with the aim
of development and economic growth but, the more
Tropical Rainforest Decline they continue unregulated, the more they contribute to
climate change and extreme weather. This is evidenced
Deforestation in Malaysia has advanced rapidly in the in such events as the increase in forest fires now taking
last 60 years since 1960. The annual rate has been place in many parts of the world. Marcel fears that the
increasing, doubling in the last 20 years in which time worst is yet to come if no action is taken.
2.6 million hectares of primary rainforest have been lost,
more than 16% of the forest cover. Yet, deforestation Except for farmers and indigenous people, the impact
is still ongoing. on people’s daily lives is not immediately felt as it is
Many factors drive deforestation. In Malaysia, an something that takes place far away. But with floods and
estimated 85% is due to the expansion of large-scale fires now a common occurrence, the consequences are
commercial agriculture, mainly oil palm followed getting closer to our daily lives. The resulting haze from
by timber. Initial forays into forests are for the most forest burning creates health issues. Animals migrate
marketable trees. When this supply is depleted, the second from forests into towns and cities releasing pathogens
generation clears the forest for agriculture. Another that affect humans, bringing new diseases directly to
driving factor is the development of infrastructure, populations.
such as roads. This naturally leads to commercial and

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Addressing Deforestation through Policies Council to discuss state and federal issues. A National
Forestry Act has also been enacted to ensure effective
Therefore, there is an urgent need to address issues implementation of forestry practices. But the separation
of deforestation. Initially these concerns have been of federal and state control of land and forests has
raised mostly by NGO and environmental activists. another side effect. The Federal Government cannot
How can these needs be transformed into policy negotiate international agreements on behalf of the
and actions? Deforestation and forest management states. As an example to illustrate this, negotiations
is presently a national, state, or country concern, an with the European Union to support full enforcement
issue of sovereignty. Since the 1980s, there has been against illegal logging have been going on for 20 years
international advocacy to provide and define regulations because the Federal Government cannot decide on its
and recognise that the ecosystem is not the property of own and some states have been slow to cooperate.
one country but of international interest; what happens States are neither insensitive nor lacking in the will to
in one country in some way impacts on the whole implement and enforce principles and policies, but
planet. agriculture on a large scale and industrial development
Malaysia, however, has an added ‘complication’. Land also bring vital and much-needed revenue. One way
is under state control and is not administered by the to address this dichotomy is to introduce a second
Federal Government. The Federal role is advisory, set of policies that involves mobilising industry. Since
offering technical assistance and imposing import and the 1990s, organisations have moved their advocacy
export taxes. Attempts by the Federal Government from state to the industrial sector by implementing
to have a harmonised framework with the states have market-driven initiatives and policies. This has led to
resulted in the formation of the National Forestry the advent of Industry Sustainable Standards, such as
the Forest Stewardship concept. Buyers are targeted to
Forest worker, ready to secure the logs on the timber support sustainable forest practices and management
truck at a logging camp in Tawau, Sabah. Image by by producers. In Malaysia the development of the
Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is applied
CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, via Wikimedia Commons. to implement and control best practices in oil palm
plantations.

RSPO criteria:
• no clearing of primary forests which contain

significant biodiversity
• no land grabbing from indigenous and local

communities which affects their basic and social
needs
• the usage of pesticides must be controlled
• no planting on riverine areas
• workers should not be exploited or treated unfairly
• poor working conditions must be addressed

Many companies have gone beyond these basic practices
by committing themselves to sourcing commodities
from plantations that are not created by deforestation,
firstly, by developing traceability. They ask questions
like: ‘Where is the palm oil from?’ to ensure that
the plantations have not destroyed forests i.e. High
Conservation Value forests (HCVF). Private initiatives
by industry have been successful with this approach.
About 20% of palm oil produced in the world is now
from certified companies i.e. companies that produce
Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO).

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