S’gor govt seeks public feedback on degazetting Kuala Langat forest reserve
The Selangor government will be holding a town hall meeting next Tuesday (Sept 29) to seek public feedback on its plan to degazette the Kuala Langat (North) Forest Reserve.
The meeting about the degazetting is scheduled to start at 8am. It will be chaired by Environment, Green Technology, Science, Technology and Innovation, and Consumer Affairs committee chairperson Hee Loy Sian.
The event will take place at the Amverton Resort on Pulau Carey, about a 55-minute drive from the forest reserve.
In a statement today, a group of seven NGOs calling itself the Coalition for the Protection of Selangor’s Forests proposed for the town hall session to be postponed to allow stakeholders more time to prepare for it.
They protested how formal invitations were received just six days before the town hall, and said they preferred a 14-day notice.
They also noted that some stakeholders had yet to receive news about the event.
“The meeting is an opportunity for the forest reserve stakeholders to voice their objections and present fundamental points and facts against the proposal. However, the invitation only gives a few days to prepare for the session.
“The Orang Asli communities have yet to receive the letter of invitation when they should have been alerted much earlier,” said coalition member Faizal Parish Abdullah.
The coalition also urged the government to move the town hall session to a venue closer to the Kuala Langat (North) Forest Reserve.
This, they said, was to allow more members from Orang Asli communities to participate in the discussion.
“On top of the short notice, the venue (Pulau Carey) is located outside of sub-district Mukim Tanjung 12, which is about one hour away from the forest reserve with very limited transportation options.
“This situation defeats the purpose of organising a public hearing and restrains the affected community, particularly the local Orang Asli Temuan communities, from attending the town hall,” Faizal said.
The coalition added that it had communicated its two requests to the Selangor State Forestry Department in a letter.
Malaysiakini has contacted Hee for comment.
The seven members of the coalition are the Center for Orang Asli Concerns Malaysia (COAC), Global Environment Centre (GEC), GRASS Malaysia, Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (Kuasa), Malaysia Nature Society (MNS), Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), and Treat Every Environment Special (TrEES).
Back in February, the state government had published a public notice announcing its plan to degazette 930.93ha (97.1 percent) of the forest reserve for a mixed development project.
Following protests from environmental NGOs and Orang Asli groups, Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari defended the plan and said the forest was of little value as many trees had become “degraded”.
READ MORE: S’gor MB claims Kuala Langat forest has ‘degraded’, will turn other forests into reserves
He said the forest reserve had become a fire hazard and touted that the plan would help prevent forest fires.
Amirudin also promised that the state would "replace" the degazetted reserve with larger and better quality forests.
He further assured that the surrounding Temuan Orang Asli villages would not be affected by the state’s plan to develop the area.
Malaysiakini previously reported that the proposed alignment of the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) is set to cut through Orang Asli farmland.
The coalition said today that it previously submitted some 43,502 objections to the state government on the degazetting plan after the latter held a public hearing on the issue.
