BALIK PULAU – Zakaria Ismail – who made history by winning an appeal against the environmental impact assessment approval for the Penang South Islands (PSI) project – is firm that no form of reclamation should take place because it disrupts the ecology and marine life here.
He said the fishermen will reject any attempt to reclaim islands off Penang while underlining that developers here must comprehend the environmental damages, especially with climate change effects.
“Even if the developers want to scale down the magnitude of the reclamation, we will never support,” he told journalists here in an interview.
Zakaria is the chairman of the Sg Batu fishing unit, collaborated with civil society groups and Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman, who represented the group in filing an appeal against the environmental impact assessment (EIA) approval.
They won a historic judgement last month when the Appeals Board of the Environment Department (DoE) rescinded its EIA approval for the PSI mega reclamation project.
PSI was designed as a catalyst project to reclaim 4,500ha from the sea off Teluk Kumbar, fronting the Penang International Airport in Bayan Lepas.
After the land is sold with the help of the PSI project delivery partner (PDP) – the SRS Consortium – the proceeds would then be channelled towards funding the ambitious Penang Transport Master Plan which consists of three highways and a light rail transit system that connects Komtar in George Town with the airport here.
Zakaria said that fishermen in Balik Pulau have seen how their counterparts in Tg Tokong lost their way of life and were allegedly mistreated by other developers in a similar reclamation project that commenced in the 1970s and until now, remains unsettled.
He also said that the state government was not efficient in providing compensation and the token sum of up to RM14,000 per fisherman was insufficient if their catches were to dwindle due to the ill effects of erosion.
“If development is carried inland, I can perhaps accept but in the sea, the ecology is too sensitive for large scale projects. We know it as we go out to sea daily.”
Zakaria also laughed off allegations that he was a member of a political party, saying he is more inclined to be active at mosques and in heading out to sea than in politics.
“Actually, my father barred me from entering politics as it is a line which cannot appease anybody. Sometimes, politicians become villains even if they mean well.”
When asked how they managed to stay the course in the appeal to DoE, Zakaria said that, unlike the politicians who were disunited, the NGOs and the fishermen, as well as local villagers, stood their ground over this project, and it is now proven to be right.
He added that the state needs to resubmit a fresh application for EIA approval after the board had withdrawn the earlier approval given in 2019.
In another development, a PSI proponent and Penggerak Komuniti Muda executive director Joshua Woo Sze Zeng, said Zakaria is entitled to his opinion, but he needs to be reminded that many parts of the present-day Penang were reclaimed during the previous administration.
Woo said that the Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu Expressway, Straits Quay, the Bayan Lepas Industrial Free Trade Zone are reclaimed parcels that had become engines of growth.
“If we halt all forms of development, then not only will Zakaria suffer as the fishermen will have nobody who can afford to buy their catches but the younger generation, as the jobs created will not be sufficient to meet the rising living costs.”
He said a dialogue that he had with youths here, saw many participants supporting the PSI because they didn’t realise that many parts in Penang were previously reclaimed.
And with the state revealing from the pandemic aftermath, Woo said it was imperative that the state find something to stimulate growth but due to climate change, the development must be tailored as sustainable. – The Vibes, September 28, 2021
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