KUALA LUMPUR – As soon as it was launched on September 19 a year ago, The Vibes was thrown into covering one of the most alarming yet under-reported environmental controversies in the country – the Papar Dam project.
The RM2 billion plan was to replace more than 5sq km of virgin rainforest in Sabah, displacing thousands of natives whose ancestors had lived there since time immemorial.
Fortuitously, a team from The Vibes that was in Sabah to cover the state polls gave in to curiosity to find out for themselves what the issue was all about.
It was to be this fledgling news portal’s first major environmental coverage – one of many significant and impactful ones to come.
Guided by indigenous activists and the Save Papar River Committee, we exposed to the world what made the project problematic, while highlighting the immense natural treasures of the region and its gentle, innocent people.
Indeed, the forests surrounding Sg Papar, which stretches 60km from the mountains through three districts, are laden with untold ecological riches that were threatened with extinction.
Imbroglio over Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve
If the editors had thought that another major environmental issue would not crop up soon, they were proven wrong.
On September 29, about 100 Orang Asli in Kuala Langat, Selangor, attended a town hall session in Pulau Carey – after being informed at the last minute – to voice their concerns about a plan to raze the forest for a multibillion-ringgit commercial project.
Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari had announced that two companies had submitted proposals to develop the forest, known officially as the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve (KLNFR). They were Menteri Besar Inc, the state investment vehicle, and Titian Jutaria Sdn Bhd.
The Vibes then proceeded to publish an exposé on Titian Jutaria – which has since been dissolved. The company, it was found, was controlled by the Selangor royal house.
We then highlighted that a 60ha plot of land, promised to the Orang Asli community in Kg Busut Baru if the KLNFR degazettement was successful, is already theirs in the first place.
According to Colin Nicholas, coordinator of Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, the plot was part of an unfulfilled government compensation in 1993 when the Temuan tribespeople were resettled from Sepang to Kuala Langat to make way for the Kuala Lumpur International Airport development.
We then highlighted what made the KLNFR and its native denizens unique, reporting on their ancient customs.
Among their age-old traditions is “tanggak” – where the Temuan people furnish incense offering to their ancestors and guardian deities in exchange for a safe passage through the forest.
The 8,000-year-old vegetation covering some 931ha is one of the four remaining peat swamp forests in Selangor.
To simply develop it would inadvertently trigger groundwater imbalance in the neighbouring areas. “Such imbalances will make the peat soil outside of the forest even drier,” Geological Society of Malaysia president Abd Rasid Jaapar had said in an interview.
Nearly a year later, on August 30, 2021, the Orang Asli community had a shock when they were informed that the KLNFR has already been degazetted in May.
Selangor tourism, environment, and green technology exco Hee Loy Sian informed the state assembly that since there were objections to the proposal, only 536ha of the 991ha forest was degazetted.
“It is like we don’t exist in Selangor,” said Samsul Anak Senin, Kg Busut village head. “Why don’t they want to listen to us?”
The issue was a serious misstep for another reason. In deciding on the degazettement, the state executive council under the Pakatan Harapan government had defied objections from the opposition, its own backbenchers, rights activists and the Orang Asli.
Then, on September 1, Amirudin, who is also state PKR chief, was instructed by party president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to resolve the issue. This came about following a heated meeting between Amirudin and the party’s political bureau, revealed to The Vibes, that evening.
The imbroglio culminated in the Selangor government announcing on September 8 that it had decided to degazette only 42ha of KLNFR instead of 536ha.
Amirudin said the decision was to complete the handover of land ownership to residents of Kg Busut Baru. He assured that his administration would put a stop to plans for development beyond the stated areas.
The state will also initiate the process of regazetting the remaining KLNFR land.
Penang’s shocking pig farms pollution
In December last year, The Vibes reported a shocking account of nearly 50 pig farms in Kg Selamat in northern Seberang Prai operating illegally for more than some 40 years.
The situation had resulted in over 1,000 residents, especially in neighbouring Kg Tok Bedu, suffering the stench emanating from a nearby river polluted by effluent from these farms.
This was despite the state government approving the Pig Breeding Licensing (Penang State) Regulations 2020 on March 1 last year.
What was even more astounding was that the pig farmers were given a reprieve by the Seberang Prai City Council, as they are exempted from submitting their planning permissions.
Seberang Prai Mayor Datuk Rozali Mohamud told The Vibes on December 12 that the exemption was to help the pig farmers, but did not elaborate.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia, the environmental NGO that had brought up the problem for the past 20 years, was baffled by this exemption. Its honorary secretary S. Mageswari told The Vibes that it was only a short-term solution to the pollution in Sg Kereh.
However, we then reported two days later that the reprieve was ended as police opened an investigation paper to look into the longstanding problem.
Seberang Prai Utara district police chief Noorzainy Mohd Noor said the investigations were in the final stage before the case is handed over to the prosecutor in January for further action. Forensics officials had even taken samples in Sg Kereh to detect pig DNA.
The case came to a close in May this year. The Penang deputy public prosecutor’s office confirmed that there would be no prosecution made, as it was unable to definitively identify the “mastermind” behind the more than 100 pig farmers in the area.
State prosecution director Khairul Anuar Abdul Halim said the investigation paper was handed back to police at the end of last month. “We cannot continue the case because there is no clear legal provision for us to prosecute the relevant parties,” he told The Vibes.
Coral reefs, rock geology and urban forests
The Vibes has also given exclusive coverage on other sensitive environmental issues not just on land but also in the ocean.
In July, we highlighted the vulnerability of the coral reefs around Pulau Tioman by reporting on the efforts of diver and conservationist Alvin Jeyanathan Chelliah and his wife, marine biologist Chen Sue Yee, at Reef Check Malaysia – an NGO.
In particular, Alvin has been involved in the Tioman Marine Conservation Group, made up of several islanders trained in conservation work, since 2015.
“Around 45 local islanders have been trained to help with conservation, for example, how to dive and monitor reef health, install mooring buoys for boats, and remove ghost nets that have been lost or abandoned at sea as they can still continue to trap and kill marine life,” said Alvin in an interview.
In April, we featured marine biologist and civil servant Quek Yew Aun’s crusade to promote marine environmental education in the country and around the world.
Quek has been selected by the North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) as a 2021 EE 30 Under 30 Changemaker following his efforts to broadcast marine environmental education in the country and around the world.
A key effort undertaken by the 27-year-old officer currently attached to the biodiversity division of the Energy and Natural Resources Ministry was co-founding Reef Stakes, the first marine themed role-playing card game in Malaysia.
On a quirkier side, we also reported on a strange geomorphic rock formation at Kg Quop in Sarawak whose origin is surrounded by both science and sacred native mythology.
Strangely, Batu Tipire, as it is known, has a distinct fissure in the middle, as if it was neatly sliced into two parts by someone with a preternatural knife.
Villagers believe that the 5m-high rock was not actually “sliced”, but it is a seraphic couple – the left boulder being male and the right, female.
Urban green lungs, especially forests facing encroachment, are also very much under The Vibes’ radar.
In October, we reported on fears of overdevelopment at Federal Hill gripping conservationists after the green lung, among the few sizeable ones in Kuala Lumpur, was excluded from the KL Structural Plan 2040 draft.
The omission left the hill vulnerable to commercial use, such as in 2012 when public-listed property giant SP Setia Bhd engaged in a land swap deal with the government.
Environmental groups such as the Malaysian Nature Society have been pushing for the gazettement of the hill. – The Vibes, September 20, 2021
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