Protect, preserve, propagate — Sarawak's natural habitats
THE symbolic planting of the 50th millionth tree at the Forest Research Centre in Kuching today, is a part of the state-level International Day of Forests (IDF) 2025, which the United Nations General Assembly in 1971 had launched to promote awareness of the importance of forests.
As part of my tribute and contribution to this awareness campaign, my column today sheds a spotlight on one of the many benefits and attributes that the continued protection, preservation and propagation of the 'Greening of Malaysia' brings to us all – a case study, if you will.
For without such greenery, forests, trees, waterways and the entire ecosystem and environment of our natural habitat, we would not continue to be blessed with abundant wildlife, and all the other flora and fauna that Mother Nature has bestowed upon the human race.
We wouldn't be able to take walks, hikes and go on picnics and adventures in our wilderness, nor encounter and be surrounded by creatures of the air, land and water.
Today, I'd like to tell you a story of my good friend David Hilton Smith.
Many of you might already know him or have heard of him. You might even have personally encountered him in one of his many versatile roles and various past professional status.
David had started his working life when he joined the Sarawak civil service – his first job in 1967 was as an Education Department clerk.
After that, he took up an appointment as an Immigration Department officer in 1969. I first met him then, and we became friends a couple of years later.
He left the government service in 1981 to venture into the private sector, which had involved property development, timber marketing and eventually consumer products trading.
We became colleagues when he joined Sebor Sarawak in the mid-1980s.
David was also an appointed councillor of Kuching South City Council (MBKS) for a time.
He led a very active life, and had a great number of friends.
He was a keen golfer and had also served on the committee of many sports and social organisations throughout his long and colourful career.
Then came March 18, 2020 – the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
It meant that virtually everything went into lockdown, and we had called it Movement Control Order (MCO) – it had lasted a year, seven months and two weeks.
From his high-rise condominium at MJC Batu Kawa – a small satellite township about six miles by road from Kuching city centre – David said he had felt 'shell-shocked' and the proverbial 'cabin fever' had quickly set in within days.
Luckily for him, from his balcony he could still enjoy the picturesque scenery around him.
David's photo shows three Zzebra doves, the infant in the middle, taken at the vicinity of MJC Batu Kawa in Kuching.
Then he had taken notice of an abundance of wildlife, which flew by his balcony every day and also had wandered around the grounds and garden of his abode.
There were dozens of different varieties of birds that flew by, and many took their rest on the high tree branches some distance off.
There were wild fowls like ducks and water hens in the waterways, and there were even monkeys, squirrels and other animals that had made the natural habitat around him.
That was when at age 70, David decided to take up photography, and he started to equip himself with a high-end Canon SLR, bought some zoom lenses and the other paraphernalia to be expected of a 'crazed new hobbyist'.
He was so enthused and so excited that he shared many of the photographs that he took of the wildlife around him on his personal Facebook page which, of course, attracted many complimentary comments from his friends.
I actually found out about his hobby when I saw these photos sometime in 2020.
But I had always thought he was already into photography as a hobby when we were both in Sebor in 1984, as our company was then the sole distributor for Fujica cameras and FujiFilm.
Another David's photo shows three long-tailed macaques high up on a tree at the MJC Batu Kawa in Kuching.
I met up with David earlier this week for breakfast and he had shown me many of his favourite shots on his laptop photo gallery; of the various animals, birds and other beauty shots that he had taken this past five years, since he took up his hobby seriously.
There were beautiful photographs from around his home at the MJC township, others of places in and around Kuching, as well as those taken on his travels abroad, mainly to Australia and of course many of his own family as well.
In his words, he said that his intense dedication to his hobby had kept him sane and occupied, and replaced his time otherwise spent on the golf course, or out shopping and doing the rounds with his wife Janet, family and friends.
Two wild whistling ducks, in a pond at Sarawak Golf Club Petra Jaya, in Kuching.
Photography is not an inexpensive hobby, but everyone can adjust and modify to his own personal budget and there are also great bargains of 'pre-loved' camera equipment easily available on the market.
David's greatest wish coincides with what I had started this column with – he commends the state government for everything that they have done so far by way of preserving and protecting our natural habitats.
Without these in place and in full force, it would not have been possible to be able to see such abundant wildlife within such proximity to our main city households and indeed, among the newly-developed high-rises, like the one David now resides in.
His hope is to eventually see and witness even more trees and greenery being planted, propagated and even extended so that any and all arbitrary cutting and demolishing of greenery are always kept to a bare minimum.
As it is right now, the cutting down of trees along the major roads to make way for the new Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) means that many old beautiful tall trees throughout the areas affected have been lost for good.
But hopefully, this is a 'one-off' unavoidable occurrence not to be repeated.
A lone majestic crested Goshawk on top of a tree at Kuching's Reservoir Park – now renamed 'Unity Park'.
David also commented that certain species of animals, birds and other wildlife were threatened with the danger of extinction; and that he had observed that a number of species that he had often seen in the wild as a boy in the 1950s and 1960s, had disappeared altogether.
While we are all in support of development and making life better for the general population and ensuring that the aim of giving every citizen his own home is the government's ultimate aim, we must also ensure that this delicate balance of progress with an eye for preserving our natural habitat has to be kept and maintained – indeed enforced if need be.
We can only pray and wish that we can all live harmoniously with one another side by side: humans, animals, and our environment.
Amen.
* The opinions expressed in this article are the columnist's own and do not reflect the view of the newspaper. David Hilton Smith Kuching nature Photography
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