This is the real origin story of FRIM — and of modern forestry in Malaysia. It starts with a tree.
FRIM's untold story: Gutta Percha
FRIM's history is closely linked to a tree called gutta percha or nyatoh taban merah, which was once very valuable to the British Government. The high demand and extreme exploitation of this tree forced the British Government to initiate forest management and forestry research in British Malaya at the end of the 19th century, which eventually resulted in the establishment of FRIM in 1985.
1. What is Gutta Percha?
The name ‘gutta’ means ‘getah’ in Malay - latex/gum; while ‘percha’ is the local name of the tree.
Scientific name: "palaquium gutta", family Sapotaceae. It's a medium timber tree up to 35m tall, found in lowland forests of Peninsular Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra and Borneo.
It's a lightweight hardwood for interior panels and decor. Its leaves are yellowish-green / rusty green with copper veins. It starts producing white rubber after 15 years old. At room temperature gutta percha latex is hard, but when heated it can be moulded into various shapes.
2. Why the world went crazy for it
Long before the West knew it, Orang Asli and Malays used it for knife handles and walking sticks. But in 1840s Europe discovered it was perfect insulation for submarine telegraph cables — flexible, waterproof, withstands high pressure and cold.
This was the internet boom of the Victorian era. By 1907, some 200,000 nautical miles of cable criss-crossed the oceans, all insulated with gutta percha.
Demand exploded. And Johor became the centre:
"Apart from pepper and gambier there was gutta percha -- valuable for coating the undersea cables being laid to link up the British empire by telegraph.."
Temenggong Daeng Ibrahim, who built modern Johor, exploited mainland Johor's natural resources for export through Singapore. He posted Malay agents to rely on 'orang asli' and Malays to gather gutta-percha for export to Europe. Revenue at the end of the 1840s was estimated between $150,000 to $200,000 per annum — huge then.
One account says his business was so successful he harvested all the gutta-percha trees in one year, and he was even said to have engaged in piracy to monopolise the trade.
3. The ecological disaster
The problem: latex could only be collected by felling the tree.
The result was catastrophic:
- Latex extraction by felling led to concerns over population decline
- 'Palaquium gutta' has vanished from Singapore and parts of the Malay Peninsula by the 1880s
- An estimated 3 million trees were felled in just one region of Sarawak over a span of 20 years
- Concern towards timber destruction started in the Gutta percha era where "Palaquium gutta" (Nyatoh taban) was heavily felled and finally very difficult to obtain
This is why forestry research started. Harvests in early Malaya were initially very selective, focused on felling of gutta percha and durable hardwoods like Chengal.
4. How it led to FRIM
The crisis forced the colonial administration to act:
- 1895-1901: Forest management under Land Officers in Federated Malay States
- Since 1901: Chief Forest Officers appointed in Perak, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan
- 1920: First Forest Department established in Johor, followed by Kedah (1923), Kelantan and Brunei (1933), Terengganu (1936) as the ‘Malayan Forest Service’
- 1929: Forest Research Institute (FRI) established as research arm
- 1985: Became FRIM as a statutory body
In the 1880s, due to dwindling supplies, there were already attempts at planting nyatoh taban (Palaquium gutta). The oldest surviving gutta percha trees in the FRIM main campus in Kepong were planted in 1927 — now 27-32m tall, 33-46cm dbh.
FRIM Director General Dato’ Dr Abd Latif Mohmod said it well: “Forestry research is crucial for ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources for the conservation of our country’s forests.”
So FRIM — now listed in July 2025 as Malaysia's 6th UNESCO World Heritage Site and the world's oldest and largest re-created tropical rainforest from a former tin mine — was born because we almost cut down all of one species for telegraph cables.
Today gutta percha latex is still used, but in tiny quantities: as golf ball coating, in dental root-canal filling, pistol grips and jewelry.
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