Kota Kinabalu 17 March - Sarawak wants to emulate Sabah's
policies on forestry and wildlife conservation as well as tourism, which its
Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem said Sabah has done quite well under Datuk
Seri Musa Aman's leadership.
Speaking at the
welcoming dinner in conjunction with his inaugural visit to the State after his
appointment as Chief Minister, Adenan said Sarawak should emulate Sabah's
forestry policy.
"Sabah's
timber industry used to be in a big mess but now it is well regulated and
managed. We ought to follow your footsteps in this matter," said Adenan,
who recently declared war on illegal logging and froze permits for new timber
concessions – measures which were introduced by Musa soon as he became Sabah CM
a decade ago.
He also said
Sabah's wildlife conservation policy was something that Sarawak was interested
to emulate such as the rehabilitation of the orang utan in Sepilok, Sandakan.
Adenan said Sabah's Danum Valley was another example of excellence in terms of conservation that Sarawak would definitely be looking at. "I want to create another Danum in Sarawak and compete with your Danum," he said at the dinner in Shangri-la's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Monday. Adenan is on a two-day official visit to the State.
One thing that Sarawak would not follow Sabah, he said, was "to allow so many outside people to occupy the state, that we will not follow" that was met with laughter from the floor.
He was referring to
the State's illegal immigrant problem which Musa inherited from previous
administrations.
He said there was
no necessity for Sarawak to have its own Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) and
that he sympathised with Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan
who have his work cut out for him as chairman of the working committee on
foreign migrants in Sabah.
It's
understandable, he said, as the problem faced by Sabah was compounded by its
proximity with the Philippines.
"So we want to
get away as far as we can from that ... Sarawak also have some problem with Indonesian
Kalimantan but not that much," he said.
Adenan also said
that the Chief Ministers of Sabah and Sarawak have greater autonomous power
than the other state chief executives, as well as due to the fact that Sabah
and Sarawak are bigger in size.
He said despite the
existing bond and cordial relationship between Sabah and Sarawak, the
relationship must continue to be nurtured everyday.
Adenan also spoke
about his early days after taking over from Tun Taib Mahmud who had been
Sarawak's Chief Minister for more than 30 years.
"It is a very
long time, basically one generation. Whenever you mention CM in Sarawak he is
Taib Mahmud," he said.
A few months ago,
he said he was at a function and he asked the State Secretary "where is
the CM?" but was responded by a shocked State Secretary "you are the
CM."
Source:
www.dailyexpress.com.my