ROYAL BELUM STATE PARK

Royal Belum State Park is located in northern Perak and stands as a living testament to the wonders of nature’s grandeur.

The park encompasses an area of approximately 117,500 hectares and represents one of the oldest pristine rainforests in the world. The landscape is an important site for large mammals which include the Malayan tiger, elephant, gaur, tapir, sun bear, and sambar deer.

In 2011, the tiger density in the park was 1.92 individuals per 100 km2, the highest recorded in Peninsular Malaysia. However, this figure had reduced by almost 60% to 0.8 individuals per 100 km2 seven years later (WWF Malaysia). The reduction was caused by an influx of professional Indochinese poaching syndicates mainly from Thailand and Vietnam, whose modus operandi is to set up large wire snares in the interior of the park and stay up to several months during each trip.

The peak of the poaching wave was from 2016 to 2017, when 218 cable snares were recorded in Royal Belum State Park. Most of the snares recorded were suspected to be set by Indochinese poaching syndicates.

JAHAI ORANG ASLI

Jahais are one of 18 tribes of indigenous people of Malaysia and it is believed that they settled in the country more than 25,000 years ago.

There are two main settlements of the Jahai people in Royal Belum - Sungai Tiang and Sungai Kejar cluster of villages. Their income in the past is mainly from harvesting non-timber forest products such as agarwood, herbs, honey, frogs and fish. Sometimes they work as porters for houseboats and tour operators in the area.

Based on a study carried out in 2013, more than 93.3% of the Orang Asli living in Belum-Temengor earn below RM800 per household per month.

MENRAQ

Perak State Parks Corporation (PSPC) and RIMAU formed the Menraq Patrol Unit, a community-based wildlife protection patrol unit to supplement PSPC in anti-poaching efforts. We hope to nurture a sense of ownership among the Jahai Orang Asli in wildlife conservation. This community patrolling project will not only protect the Malayan tiger and its habitat but also provide an alternative livelihood to the members of Menraq and their village as a whole.

The project started in November 2019 with just 5 patrollers funded by miscellaneous supporters of RIMAU from one village. Today we have 30 Menraq patrollers from five villages in the Sungai Kejar area. The presence of a community fund for the local Orang Asli community is something special about the Menraq project. For every day a patroller works, RM 10 is collected into the community fund. In this way, not only individual team members get the benefits, the whole village benefits.

Our efforts include providing proper equipment for the teams and provide continuous training for them. This includes basic reading and writing, satellite and GPS competency and camping and hiking safety. RIMAU has a basecamp in Sungai Kejar that allows for the storing of equipment, training and education programmes.

In 2023, the Menraq team were awarded the IUCN WCPA International Ranger Award for their efforts in tiger conservation.

Menraq team receiving training

Menraq team on patrol

Menraq team

Menraq carrying out SMART patrol

MENRAQ PROGRAMMES

MENRAQ MUDA

Menraq Muda is a youth programme for young girls and boys from the Jahai community. The program encourages a new generation of wildlife protectors. Royal Belum’s remote location has limited the Jahai children’s access to many opportunities that children in the city enjoy. The Menraq Youth team aims to bridge this gap. The programme will help to increase the literacy level of the children, support them in exploring their home and appreciating its beauty, encourage their interest in the protection of the forest and its biodiversity and introduce the children to new types of potential careers such as wildlife protectors.

GLOBAL TIGER DAY

Global Tiger Day (also known as International Tiger Day) is an annual celebration to raise awareness for tiger conservation, held annually on 29 July. It was created in 2010 at the Saint Petersburg Tiger Summit. RIMAU believes it is important to engage with the local community and raise awareness on wildlife conservation together with them. RIMAU celebrates Global Tiger Day with the participation of villagers in Royal Belum to create a love for the animal and gain the community's support in the effort to preserve the Malayan tiger.

EDUCATION

In Royal Belum, formal education is only available at Sungai Tiang for children between the ages of 7 to 12. Children wanting to go to secondary school need to leave the park and go into boarding school, the nearest being over one and half hours away via boat and car. In the Sungai Kejar area, there is a primary school at only one village which consists of only two small rooms and the teachers need to come from Sungai Tiang which is more than one hour away by boat. The teaching is inconsistent, leaving behind massive gaps in the education system. RIMAU is helping by training and employing teachers for basic reading, writing, counting and creative classes.

RIMAU has also assisted the State Park in building a school in Kampung Kelewang.

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