Swiftlet birdhouse owners willing to work with state govt

Saturday August 21, 2010
The Star


SWIFTLET birdhouse owners in Penang are willing to co-operate with the state government to achieve a win-win situation regarding birdhouses in George Town.

Association of Swiftlet Nests Industry Penang president Carole Loh said that swiftlet farming was a legitimate business and most owners had adhered to guidelines.

“We have adhered to the 2005 guidelines that encourage swiftlet farming in commercial areas with buildings not higher than five storeys.

“We are only making a living and we are willing to discuss and cooperate on any issue,” she said.

“However, it is impossible to ask us to move existing birdhouses in George Town,” Loh told a press conference yesterday.

She said the owners were only out to make a living and closing their business would affect their livelihood.

“Most owners have to wait three to five years in order to make any returns and the success rate is only about 30%,” she added.

Loh said swiftlets were also a living he-ritage of Penang and moving the birdhou-ses would affect them too.

“Removing these nests would kill countless swiftlets as they could not build nests in other areas,” she claimed.

Small Medium Industries Association of Penang secretary- general Dr Kenneth Khoo, who was also present, said the Penang Government needed to be clear with any new guidelines.

“If the state decides not to allow new birdhouses to be set up, then there needs to be a clear cut off date as the law cannot be retrospective,” he said.

He added that the state government cannot punish cur- rent birdhouse owners as most of them were in the industry after the encouragement from the then state government in 2005.