Meeting with the SFC 17/6/09

".......the eyes of the world are on us"

Wilfred S Landong

GM,

SFC



What we eventually talked about was as surprising as the man himself.

Wilfred is not the biologist or flora expert as I had initially imagined him to be.

He had a very diverse professional background, working for many MNC's like Pfizer,

AT&T, and even our local telco, Time dot Com. He joined SFC to head up the Protected Areas and Biodiversity Conservation (PABC) dept 6 years ago.

He gave me a quick summary of his career life, in a typical coffeeshop near his office which suffered a sudden blackout just before my arrival. Oops, bad omen.

I had showed up early that for the 10am appointment and found the whole place strangely quiet, dark and deserted. Just as well, someone had intentionally left the security door ajar, otherwise I would not have been able to get in. I wondered through a few dark corridors until someone directed me to the GM's office. His charming secretary Asma thankfully was in and I unloaded the nutmeg and Tambun biscuits I had brought along on her. Ahh, nothing like the usual Penang delicacies to win the hearts of our new ally. I wonder if anyone had told her, Beware of strangers bearing gifts.

Asma led me to Paschal( pronounced Pascal), a Biologist who she said is looking after this rescue. Yes, there is a rescue effort. And the moment I set foot in Paschal's office I knew it to be a serious one, for hanging on his cubicle wall is a map of an area I instantly recognised to be the Bakun basin. And highlighted in pale green is the soon-to-be inundated area. Exactly what I would have hanging in my office. Its a very detailed map with contour lines and the name of every major tributary. In another cubicle nearby I saw a working copy of the same map with multicoloured contours, looks like serious work is going on here. Paschal later impressed me by calling out a few tributaries and showing their locations, to be potential campsites during the rescue effort. The smaller tributaries usually have clear water but also a tendency to dry up. One must have the local knowledge to know which one to pick. Asma mentioned that there was a small rescue operation performed at Batang Ai, many years ago. Maybe we can talk to the people involved.

Back to the coffeshop with Wilfred. The whole operation is codenamed "Wimor" which stands for Wildlife Monitoring and Rescue. He says it will be first of its kind in South East Asia and the whole world will be watching and he sure as hell intends to give them a good show. One can see, and knowing his background, that Wilfred is a very driven person. The moment those words departed from his lips I knew I had come to see the right person. This is aperson for whom failure does not appear to be an option.

Wilfred divulged that many individuals and NGO's had approached him on this matter and he has totally ignored them, until now. I am the lone exception.The reason why is that not only has he done a background check on me, he happened to recently meet a good friend of mine, Datuk Seri Lim Chong Keat, head of FRIM( Forest Research Institute of Malaysia). No doubt, Chong Keat must have said the right words. One really has to believe that the stars are in our favour.

NO Bad Publicity on this, thats why they dont want oursiders. Its true, many NGO's are too quick to point out what we are doing wrong, totally ignoring the fact that we are at least doing something. We cant be perfect and the media just love to publish all the bad talk. So NO Media, except in a very controlled manner.

Wilfred must somehow know how long the blackouts usually last and he suggest we go back to his office to show me the Powerpoint presentation they have done. Sure enough the lights are back on and to get through the security doors an authorised thumb must be placed on the IR reader. Fancy stuff.

The Wimor plan is impressive, as is the fact that Sarawak Hidro, the utility company owner of the dam, will be providing some funding. The impoundment is scheduled to start in Nov and it will take only 15 days ofr the water level to rise from 50m above sealevel( asl) to 75m asl. This is when the rescue must begin for this is when may islands will be formed and animals trapped.

Most of the islands, Paschal says, are near the Dam on the Balui river, not even to the Linau rivermouth. They will be submerged within 60 days as the water rises to 120m asl. The plan calls for the formation of up to 10 teams to rescue the wildlife and even endangered and endemic plants. Each team is upto 16 people, including the leaders and biologist from SFC and many local contract workers. The peak rescue period from Dec to end-Jan will be during the monsoons when the water levels will rise the fastest and conditons are toughest. He is convinced that there are still many animals in there.

Luckily the rescue area will not be too big, not more than 40 km upstream on the Balui and about 20km on the Linau. These are the 2 main river valleys that will be flooded. There are 2 more short and steep ones near the dam but these are not deemed crucial. The rescued animals will be translocated to safe areas nearby, those without logging concessions and have access to high grounds. Some may even get transferred to the future national park on the southeastern boundary of the lake.

Batu Laja or something like that.

After this, things should slow down considerably as the floodwaters head upstream along the Balui and Linau. The next 30m to 150m asl will take about 75 days, to about mid-April. Then its another 100 days to reach 180m asl.

This whole period from Nov to Aug 2010 is called the Impoundment period. ( 75m to 180m asl).

Beyond that the rescue effort will wind down as the water level slowly rises to 228m asl over the next 7 months. Animals on islands of too high a population density will be translocated.

The presentaiton also outlined a very impressive list of equipment they will be procuring, including tranquiliser guns and repeater stations for communication. It looks like a lot of though has gone into preparing this excellent plan. Lets hope it can be carried out accordingly. Even though there is a budget, they still lack many things. Proper rescue boats is only one, they had planned to rent the local longboards which consume a lot of fuel, a very precious commodity in there. Right now they also need a 4WD vehicle to travel back and forth, Sarawak Hidro allows them to borrow one but its not convenient. I suppose they cant sponsor evrything. Told Paschal I willtry to find a sponsor or sponsors. (UMW?)

Wilfred said that he will give me a letter specifying the extent of my involvement in Wimor, including recruiting of volunteers, a key point. We definitely want some good concerned and qualified people in there to make sure things are done right. I doubt that the SFC will have enough staff to supervise everything. HOw can they afford to send so many people into the jungle for so long. We must assist them here and make sure the local contract workers do a proper job. No eating on the job. I am sure it wont be easy to convince the locals we really want to released the animals we catch.

As a parting gesture, I assured Paschal that I will try to get him a 4WD, maybe not a new one but serviceable. And I also left him the book " Time is short and the water rises: Operation Gwamba" by John Walsh documenting the rescue effort at the Afobaka Dam in Surinam in the '60s. Paschal was very impressed by the book. Hope he will put it to good use.



I feel that this trip has been very productive, at least we know something will be done. There is a plan and hopefully we all can work together for the sake of the animals.

I want to close out this key posting on a high note: That night after my plane from Kuching landed in Penang, I met up with a few close friends for supper and drinks. Upon hearing how I spent my day in Kuching, they pledged immediate support. Alex pledged one rescue boat with outboard motor. Swee Yee pledged that he will try to get me a used Hilux 4wd and get his business partners to donate a couple of boats. The rest all pledged to help. What a great day it has been. The best so far and I am allowing myself to believe that now this whole thing is gonna fly. Yippee.

Help from a friend

Today I booked my plane ticket to Kuching to visit the SFC.
And received a call from John Lee, a friend who is very concerned
about Mother Nature. John is now involved with an organic farming
group. Good!, I told him he can teach us how to grow our own vege, etc.
And also vegetarian meals, we cant be slaughtering chickens, etc whilst
rescueing the other animals. John has very enthusiastically volunteered to help out.
Great news.

Visit to SFC

Mr. Wilfred Landong has kindly granted me an appointment with him on June 17th. This shows he is serious. I also received a call last week from Dato Seri Lim Chong Keat on this matter. He has seen my appeal letter and sounded amused. AS the head of FRIM( Forest Research Institute of Malaysia), its likely that he was briefed on this matter. I hope he said a few good words about me. At least that I am not some crazy greenie out to cause trouble. I will be meeting Chong Keat in a few minutes to talk on this and other matters, he mentioned Pergau Dam.