Kota Kinabalu, Wednesday, 23 April 2025:
Another serious accident, on 21 April 2025, involving a logging lorry, this time in Nabawan, is an unmistakable wake-up call to the Forestry Department and the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to relook their regulations on logging lorries transporting logs along public roads throughout Sabah. This is now the third serious accident involving these lorries happening three months in a row.
On 21 February 2025, a round log fell off a lorry along Jalan Merotai – Kalabakan and crushed onto a double cab. The passenger, a pregnant wife, was injured in the vehicle driven by her husband. Then, on 3 March 2025, a trailer lorry with logs caught fire on Jalan Kalabakan-Tawau. Now we have this third incident in Nabawan, which the Forestry Department has noted the logs involved were from a Yayasan Sabah concession.
At the recently concluded Legislative Assembly, I received an official written answer dated 17 April 2025 to my question on the 21 February 2025 accident. The Chief Minister’s Department, in its reply (presumably prepared by the Forestry Department), stated that the timber lorry in question (February case) was inspected and found to be in compliance with regulations. It was stated that no forestry offences were detected and the company had followed all Forestry Department rules.
Since, as the government claimed, the timber lorry was in compliance with safety regulations and yet the serious accident happened, and now two more serious incidents have occurred three consecutive months, does it not mean that the regulations of the Forestry Department and JPJ are deficient and lacking?
This being the case, I call on the Forestry Department and JPJ to immediately review their regulations governing timber lorries, especially on public roads across Sabah, including routes like the Tawau-Kalabakan-Keningau highway. Further, the companies transporting logs along public roads must be told to strictly adhere to safety regulations.
Datuk Yong Teck Lee
SAPP President
Ex-Chief Minister
Attachment / caption:
a. Copy of the written answer.
b. (Case 21 Feb 2025) Published photo of the fallen log from a lorry and crushed onto a double cab on Jalan Merotai-Kalabakan.
c. (Case 3 Mar 2025) Published photo of the lorry trailing logs haul up in flame along Jalan Kalabakan-Tawau.
d. (Case 21 April 2025) Published photo of the logs scattered after the trailer lorry, that from Tongod heading to Sandakan, tipped over.