The lesson we must all learn from the closing down of swiftlets farms in shophouses by the Sarawak Forestry Department that brought about a storm of protests from the operators and the destruction of thousands of swiftlet fledglings and eggs is that the authorities must act immediately and decisively on illegal operations.

The District Councils and Forestry Department should have stopped the swiftlets farmers when they began operating in shophouses more than five years ago instead of letting their numbers grow to an estimated 1500 farms before coming down hard on them.

Delay in enforcement by the authorities seemed to give the impression that operating birds farms in shophouses is legal and encourage farmers to expand and others to join in this lucrative venture.

While the swiftlets farmers have a genuine grievance over the loss of their investments, they really have no cause to protest against the destruction of the nests in the shops.

Sheer common sense dictates that operating a swiftlets farm in shophouses cannot be legalised given the nuisance tens of thousands of birds would cause to the vicinity and the pollution resulting from their droppings.

The government should now seriously rethink about the ‘softly softly’ approach in dealing with illegal operators and those who infringe the laws.

The case of the shophouse birds farms is a classic example of how a simple problem could have been solved if it had been nipped in the bud instead of letting it grow and having to resort to drastic actions to remove it.

Apparently notices had been served to the operators to move out but they were either ignored or countered with requests for dialogues.

Forestry Department director Datu Len Talif Salleh rightly said that there had been enough dialogues on this issue and it is time to crack down on these illegal farms.

In retrospect there should not have been any dialogue at all as operating birds farms from shophouses or buildings in the town is clearly illegal in the first place.

His observation that there was no point in dialogues if no solutions could be arrived at other than the implementation of the law should be noted by the authorities in dealing with similar problems.

While we do not advocate rash and inconsiderate actions against illegal business operators or squatters, there must be a firm commitment to solving the problem during dialogues and these dialogues must be used to stall for time by the transgressors.

As the case of the swiftlets farmers shows, a problem left to fester for too long will grow making solving it very difficult.

We must take heed of the old adage, ‘a stitch in time saves nine.’

• 3rd Voice is a regular feature initiated by AZAM and Sarawak Development Institute. Feedback can be sent to francis@azam.org.my or Diana@azam.org.my