‘Johor govt can’t re-gazette Pulau Kukup as national park’
KUALA LUMPUR: The Johor government cannot re-gazette Pulau Kukup as a national park.
Lawyers for Liberty adviser N. Surendran said since the area has been declared a sultanate land, under Section 2(1) of the Sultanate Land Enactment 1934, it could be considered a national asset.
“Therefore, a sultanate land cannot be considered a state land and so cannot be gazetted a national park,” he said.
Surendran said the only way to get around this would be for the state to reacquire the land.
He said only state-owned land could be gazetted as a national park under the National Park (Johor) Corporation Enactment 1989.
“This is based on Section 3(1) of the 1989 Enactment, which says that the state authorities can keep any land for the purpose of a national park,” he said.
The state government had before this given its assurances that Pulau Kukup would remain untouched and would remain a national park despite it being gazetted as a sultanate land.
On Wednesday, Pagoh member of parliament Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said Pulau Kukup should stay a national park and not be declared sultanate land.
However, Tunku Temenggong Johor Tunku Idris Iskandar Sultan Ibrahim said in an Instagram posting yesterday that the royal family would ensure that no development would be allowed on Pulau Kukup.
Tunku Idris, who is Johor National Parks royal patron, said this was one of the priorities and missions of the royal family, to ensure the protection of forests, mangroves and corals in the state.