KUALA LUMPUR – The PKR leadership has instructed Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari to resolve the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve (KLNFR) encroachment issue following a heated meeting between him and the party’s political bureau this evening.
During the meeting, Amirudin faced his fellow party members over the degazetting of 536ha of the 991ha forest reserve, and was asked to find a solution to a crisis that many felt would cast a wedge in the party.
“Our party meetings are always heated but this was more heated than usual for obvious reasons,” said a senior party leader.
Amirudin briefed his party leadership on the situation, including a chronology of events that also showed all the players involved in the controversy.
He was accompanied by two other state executive council members from PKR – Selangor Tourism, Environment, and Green Technology exco Hee Loy San and Housing, Urban Wellbeing and Entrepreneur Development exco Rodziah Ismail.
“It is a complicated matter but the solution is there and the solution must be in the public interest,” the party leader told The Vibes.
Yesterday PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had summoned Amirudin to explain the controversy in detail as it went against the wishes of both the Selangor state assembly and party leadership.
On whether this issue will tear PKR apart as speculated by several quarters, the leader said the party remains united and steadfast in resolving the matter.
Asked if the forest reserve will be saved, Anwar said efforts currently underway are aimed at just that.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued later, PKR communications chief Fahmi Fadzil said the political bureau was “satisfied” with Amirudin’s assurance that the degazettement would be postponed until the state government has considered and explained all issues raised on the matter.
“The political bureau had stressed that the decision needs to uphold several basic principles, including conservation of the environment, as well as transparent, open, and good governance in the procurement process and evaluation,” he said.
The state must also ensure that the impact of KLNFR’s degazettement on the general public is minimised, he added.
On Monday, Hee had informed the state assembly that the KLNFR had already been degazetted since May.
However, in view of the objections to the proposal, only 536ha from the 991ha forest were degazetted, he said, adding that the affected areas would be compensated by the gazettement of land in three other areas – Sg Panjang, Ampang Pecah, and Broga. – The Vibes, September 1, 2021
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