State admits Unesco never asked for swiftlet ban in city

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GEORGE TOWN: Unesco never called for a ban on swiftlet farming in the George Town world heritage site.

The international body also did not impose any regulations on the country after Penang and Malacca were jointly listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2008, Local Government and Traffic Management Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said.

“However, swiftlet farming would have a negative impact on the inner city’s outstanding universal value (OUV) which gave rise to the listing — hence the state government’s decision to impose the ban.

“George Town’s OUV is that the city is a thriving port in the Straits of Malacca with multi-cultural heritage and unique shophouse architecture.

“Although Unesco never asked for a ban on swiftlet farming, the activity jeopardises the listing because of its negative impact on the OUV,” he said in his winding up speech at the state assembly.Chow said swiftlet farming had caused the building facade and streetscape to change, residents to move out leaving the buildings empty and was a disturbance to the nearby residents.

“These affect the OUV which is why the George Town Unesco World Heritage Site Special Area Plan does not allow swiftlet farming in the heritage zone.” Interjecting, Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya (BN-Teluk Bahang) said instead of banning the activity, the state government should formulate creative guidelines to prevent the OUV from being compromised.

“Unesco didn’t ask for a ban so why is there a need for us to do so? “The birds may not follow if you get the swiftlet home operators to move to another zone. Bird nest farming is a lucrative business so this ban will cause us to lose a lot of money.

“I am sure we can come up with enforceable guidelines so that the swiftlet operators need not move out.

“We can even encourage businesses related to swiftlet farming such as the sale of bird nest products and drinks in the inner city,” he said.

Defending the ban, Chow said the existing 100-odd swiftlet farms in the heritage enclave would otherwise mushroom to 1,000. The Opposition and backbenchers have called on the state government to identify zones for bird nest farming in the state.

Swiftlet farmer: Allow swiftlet farming in towns

Posted on April 9, 2010, Friday by Borneo Post

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KOTA KINABALU: Swiftlet farming in town areas should be allowed as it is accepted in many major townships in Malaysia.A swiftlet farmer, George Ng, in stressing this said the Sabah government should take heed of the federal government’s guideline on swiftlet farming, adding towns such as Ipoh, Johor Bahru and others in Peninsular Malaysia are successfully doing it.

“I do not understand why major towns like Sandakan or Tawau or KK cannot do it?” said Ng, who responded to a statement by Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai on the banning of swiftlet farming in towns and cities. Yee, in the statement said the ban was due to the effect of swiftlet farming on health and environment.

Ng said currently they were waiting for guidelines from the federal government to share knowledge with the state government on proper swiftlet farming practices.

“If the state government bans swiftlet farming within the town areas, how can we, the owners, kill the birds because it is against the law? “Birds are not like furniture that can be easily moved from one place to another,” said Ng.

He pointed out that even the World Health Organisation had given the green light to swiftlet farming in town areas, adding: “So how can the state government use this as a reason to disallow us to do such farming in the city area?”

He stressed that other birds, such as pigeons, which are mostly found at Gaya Street, are even dirtier and noisier at night.

“Most swiftlet farms in town area use music to attract these birds to return ‘home’ but it will be turned off at 7.30pm. “I think even the karaoke centres are more noisier than our music,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Meanwhile, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Supreme Councilor Datuk David Chong, in a statement here yesterday said the Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) was applying double standards when it came to swiftlet farming. He said City Hall had closed down a swiftlet farm in Inanam but allowed at least two similar farms downtown.

“There are swiftlet farms right under the nose of DBKK but they never took action despite numerous complaints,” he said adding one such farm was found at Gaya Street and another at Lorong Dewan which was close to the Community Centre.

He said DBKK must be fair to all no matter who they are whether they got connection or otherwise.

As such, Chong said the decision of the state government to ban swiftlet rearing within the city area must be adhered to immediately.

He said DBKK’s refusal to take action to close the swiftlet farms at Gaya Street and Lorong Dewan had raised suspicions.

Chong said the swiftlet farms at Gaya Street and Lorong Dewan must be closed down without further delay not because the state government had made a decision but such farms could harm people’s health.

According to him, DBKK should not wait until someone dies of bird related diseases before taking action, which would already be too late.

Apart from that, he said swiftlet farms within the city were also dirtying the surrounding areas and polluting the environment.

Pahang guide on swiftlet industry soon

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KUANTAN: Pahang will introduce its guidelines on the sustainable development of the swiftlet industry by the middle of the year. State Local Government, Environment and Health Committee chairman Datuk Hoh Khai Mun said the guidelines were a combination of its rules launched in 2007 and those of the Agriculture and Agro-based Industries Ministry.

He said there was a need to make adjustments to the ministry’s guidelines due to the rapid growth of the industry in the state. “We are getting input from industry experts and the Veterinary Services Department in drafting the guidelines,” he said on Tuesday.

Hoh said a meeting was held in February to sort out technical issues, such as enforcement work and legal action that could be taken by local authorities.

“We will call for a meeting next month to finalise the details and if things proceed as planned, the guidelines will be introduced by the middle of the year,” Hoh said. He said although the state government realised the potential in the swiftlet industry, public health must remain top priority.

Perak guide on swiftlet industry soon

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IPOH: Perak will implement its standardised guidelines for the swiftlet nest industry soon. Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said that at present, the state’s 15 local district councils had their own set of rules for the industry.

“While some councils follow the guidelines given by the Housing and Local Government Ministry such as breeders must form associations before they are given licences, others allow the breeders to register with the Veterinary Services Department,” he said after chairing the weekly state executive council meeting here. Dr Zambry said the guidelines which were discussed during the meeting were being fine-tuned.

“Among the areas that need to be tightened are the sound pollution resulting from the swiftlets inside the buildings and the proposed locations to house the nests,” he said yesterday. On another matter, Dr Zambry said the same department had been instructed to engage poultry farmers to reduced the problem of flies. “We hope the farmers will work closely with the department,” he said.

He added that while the state supported the poultry industry, it should not cause a nuisance to its neighbours.

Dr Zambry also said that the state would revive the Pesta Laut Lumut (Lumut Beach Sports) next year.

Last held in the 1980s, the event will promote Lumut as a tourism destination and will be held in conjunction with the Royal Malay-sian Navy’s Day celebration.

CM slammed over swiftlet ban

By VANES DEVINDRAN
vanes@thestar.com.my

KUCHING: Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has been criticised for not handling the swiftlet farming issue in Penang well.Deputy Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Minister Chua Tee Yong said Lim instead chose to push the blame to the Federal Govern-ment.

“What I need to stress is Guan Eng is a representative in the National Council for Local Government and he has the right to be heard and voice concerns to defend the people of Penang if he feels the decision made is incorrect.“As such, I hope he does not continue to mislead the people or push the blame to the Federal Government,” he said here yesterday.

Chua also requested to see the minutes of the council's meeting on how the decision to ban swiftlet farming at heritage sites in Penang and Malacca was made.He wanted to find out if Lim had agreed with the measures to be taken.“I want to know if he con- curred with the measures taken by the council.“This is because I never knew the Chief Minister of Penang to be an obedient person (leaving) the council to discuss and he just agreeing (to it),” he said.

Chua said what had been agreed in the council was a collective decision.Based on this, Chua added that it was untrue for Lim to solely say it was a directive from the Federal Government.In addition, Chua wanted to know what steps the Penang Government had taken to engage with the swiftlet operators.

Seminar on swiftlet ranching in Kuching

Posted on April 7, 2011, Thursday

INNOVATIVE: Wing Seng is one of the few companies in Sarawak to have taken the innovative approach to integrate the different elements and needs of the swiftlet ranching industry into one centre.

KUCHING: Wing Seng Swiftlet’s Equipment Trading (Wing Seng) is one of the few companies in Sarawak that has completed various consultancy, renovation and services for over 50 swiftlet houses throughout the state.

The company specialises in swiftlet house design and consultation, swiftlet house renovation, swiftlet house construction and turn-key, swiftlet house routine services and maintenance. It also conducts swiftlet ranching seminars and courses, supply of specliased swiftlet ranching equipments and materials as well as bird nests processing and trading of raw/processed bird nests.

Since the year 2008, Wing Seng Swiftlet’s Equipment Trading has been invited by various government agencies to provide courses and seminar on swiftlet ranching. It will be holding a swiftlet farming course this April (9am to 5pm) at Penview Hotel here, at a course fee of RM350 per person.

The course outline includes the proven swiftlet house 3D-model, informational on how to enhance the performance of swiftlet house, video showing swiftlet house with 30kg per month bird nest harvesting, swiftlet licencing and its procedure as well as given-out of quality external and internal swiftlet sounds. For more information, contact 082-614054 or email wingseng28@yahoo.com.

CM tells swiftlet farmers to raise issue with DPM

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/4/13/north/8469129&sec=north

GEORGE TOWN: The National Council for Local Government is behind the ban on swiftlet farming in heritage areas and not the state government, said Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng. He accused critics of “having ulterior motives” and “politicising the matter” for the Sarawak election “If they have the courage to protest sincerely and are not playing political games, they should protest to Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and not direct these (protests) to the state government,” he said.

Lim claimed that swiftlet farm- ing had become a hot issue as bird’s nest collection was popular in Sarawak. “Bird house operations are big in Sarawak and we (Pakatan Rakyat) are getting attacked on this issue,” he said.

In early September last year, Muhyiddin had announced that swiftlet farming would be prohibited in the Penang and Malacca heritage enclaves, with a three- year grace period given to existing operators. Meanwhile, Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng has renewed a challenge to the state government for an open debate over bird nests farming in the George Town heritage enclave.

Tan who quit PKR last year and is now a Kita member, said he issued a similar challenged to Local Government and Traffic Management committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow, state Agriculture, Rural Development and Flood Mitigation committee chairman Law Choo Kiang and state Domestic Trade, Consumer and Religious Affairs committee chairman Abdul Malik Abul Kassim two years ago but they had kept mum.

Last week, some 50 swiftlet farm operators held banners and shouted slogans at Komtar Walk here against the ongoing move to get them out of George Town. When contacted, Chow and Abdul Malik declined to debate with Tan. Abdul Malik urged Tan to “open his mouth” at the Dewan Rakyat. Law could not be reached for comments.