The Sabah state government has designated the whole of Ulu Segama dan Malua forest reserves covering an area of about 240,000ha for an orang utan conservation programme, Malaysian News Agency Bernama reported. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the move proved that the Sabah government was committed to preserving the state's wildlife and forest. He dismissed claims that orang utan in the state were being threatened by the clearing of forests for the development of the oil palm sector. "We don't kill orang utan as the creatures are a very important component of our tourism industry. Killing the orang utan is tantamount to killing our tourism industry. And we won't do that," Masidi said. He told reporters this after opening the Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies (OANA) Workshop On Sustainable Forest Management on behalf of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman here . Without providing the figures, he said the number of orang utan in the state was quite substantial. He said there might be incidents of orang utan being killed by poachers but the situation was under control. Masidi further said that Sabah was in the process of identifying areas that could be turned into a "forest corridor" in efforts to increase the number of Sumatran rhinoceros. The corridor, he said, could be located somewhere in the Segama forest reserve, Maliau and Tabin forest reserve. "They're saying that the rhinos are not multiplying because the male and female rhinos don't have the opportunity to meet each other," he quipped. Sabah is home to between 50 and 120 rhinoceros. Organised by Bernama (Malaysian National News Agency), the three-day workshop is being attended by representatives from OANA members such as Xinhua of China, Kyodo (Japan), Yonhap (South Korea), Vietnam News Agency, RIA Novosti (Russia) and Antara (Indonesia). Present were OANA Secretary-General Datuk Azman Ujang, who is also Bernama General Manager, and the news agency's Editor-in-Chief Yong Soo Heong.
