ECRL, ENVIRONMENT DOMINATE HEADLINES
Logging, land clearing and bauxite mining at the forefront of issues
AFTER being forced to deal with bauxite pollution, Pahang had a calm start to the year. It was not to be for long, as in September, the state was again hit with environmental problems.
It began with Protection of the Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka) making a public outcry over logging near an ecotourism spot in Fraser’s Hill, Raub.
The issue was addressed when the state Forestry Department issued a temporary stop-work order on Sept 8, with Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar meeting Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob to discuss the matter.
In October, another land-clearing controversy blew up. This time, it involved the Merapoh forest in Lipis, a tourist haven known for its Gua Hari Malaysia and jungle tracks.
This is also a place which people depend on for their livelihood, as tourists make a beeline for the ecotourism destination.
Merapoh residents were up in arms over land clearing there, which had threatened the ecosystem and water catchment areas.
Public outrage again prompted
the state Department of Environment to issue a temporary stopwork notice to kick-start the rehabilitation of the 669ha of land.
On Dec 5, Adnan said the state government was willing to halt land clearing at the land belonging to the Pahang Agriculture Development Corp. The land was supposed to be cultivated with oil palm trees.
The state in the past months has also seen fresh bauxite mining, despite the moratorium imposed by the Federal Government since January last year. The
culprits, however, took great pains to hide their activities.
Since early this year, Netizens have been circulating pictures of lorries transporting bauxite to the Kuantan Port, raising questions about whether the activity was carried out secretly at night.
There were allegations of illicit arrangements between mining operators and rogue members of state agencies raised by Netizens, who remembered their 2015 nightmare when they were forced to breathe in red dust, which covered a huge area
of Kuantan.
On Aug 2, the Malaysian AntiCorruption Commission (MACC) detained nine assistant enforcement officers from the Pahang Land and Mines Office and a senior state Customs enforcement officer.
The swoop was to facilitate a probe into alleged illicit deals that would serve to shield illegal bauxite mining and its export overseas via the port for kickbacks.
Ten days later, the commission seized 10 million tonnes of bauxite stockpile, scattered across Felda Bukit Goh and other areas in Kuantan, as part of its investigations.
On Thursday, MACC deputy commissioner (operations) Datuk Seri Azam Baki said the seized stockpiles would be released following an agreement that the state government would come up with new rules to regulate bauxite-related activities.
He made it clear that the release of the stockpiles was not a sign that bauxite mining had been legalised, but that it was just to facilitate the clearing of the stockpile.
This year will also be remembered for the June 15 training that turned tragic when two pilots in a Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) Hawk 108 advanced jet trainer were killed in a crash.
The pilots had just left the RMAF Kuantan airbase at 11.30am when contact with them was lost.
A search-and-rescue team found the bodies of Major Mohd Hasri Zahari, 31, and Major Yazmi Mohamed Yusof, 39, on the same day in a marshy area of Chukai, Terengganu. Their bodies were strapped to their parachutes and they were 20m from each other. The downed aircraft was recovered near the same area on June 16.
Pahang went abuzz on May 23 when nine Royal Malaysian Navy sailors (RMN) were reported lost at sea.
They were actually stranded for 51 hours because of a communication glitch that saw their vessel losing contact with RMN’s fast-attack craft KD Perdana, 29 nautical miles off Tanjung Sedili, Johor.
When they were rescued, the sunburned sailors were in high spirits and were returned to the RMN’s Naval Region 1 Base in Tanjung Gelang, Kuantan.
Pahang folk have good reason to cheer as this year also saw the groundbreaking of the East Coast Rail Link by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on Aug 9.
Dubbed a gamechanger for the state, the 688km rail project — to be built by China Communications Construction Company Ltd at a cost of RM55 billion — is expected to cut travel time between the west coast and east coast, with the network stretching from the Integrated Transport Terminal in Gombak, Selangor, to Kota Baru, Kelantan.
Ticket prices are expected to be affordable and the economic spin-offs and positive social impact expected along the routes and stations will spur the growth of the areas.
The route cuts through not only Pahang and Kelantan, but also Terengganu. The project is scheduled for completion by 2024.
Next year, Pahang will be watched to see whether logging and land clearing have stopped in Fraser’s Hill and Merapoh. The pressure is on the state government to make sure development projects will not affect the environment.
There will be public scrutiny on whether the moratorium on bauxite mining continues or is lifted next year.