ABANDONED LOGS, DEBRIS CAUSED FLOODS, CLAIMS NGO
It says plantation land not cleared since stop-work order given in July 2020
THE Baling floods, which claimed three lives and destroyed 120 houses in villages around Gunung Inas, were caused by logs and debris left abandoned on a vast site cleared for a durian plantation, alleged a non-governmental organisation.
Yayasan Food Bank Malaysia chief executive officer Johan Halid claimed 12,000ha of land, spanning several compartments of the forest, had been left bare for more than a year, and logs and debris remained uncleared from the site.
“That’s why some of the logs were found with their roots intact.
They were stumps that were not removed from the area.
“The expanse of land remains bare except for shrubs and small rootless trees,” he said based on his hikes and checks with villagers.
Johan, who is a Baling native, claimed Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s assertion that there was no active logging in the area was correct.
However, he said, the facts behind the floods had been left out.
Earlier, Sanusi said records showed that logging in Compartment 8 of the forest leading to Sungai Kupang had been completed in 2019.
He said a forest farming project was approved in the compartment and about 5,000 trees were replanted covering 52.96ha.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan supported this by saying that investigations by the Forestry Department confirmed the statement as trees washed away were found with their roots intact.
Johan, however, claimed the large tract of land had been largely abandoned since a stop-work order was issued on the Musang King plantation in July 2020.
“The issue here is not climate change or logging. It’s simply the Forestry Department and other agencies not checking to see if the plantation had cleared the land of logs and debris.”
“They allowed a 12,000ha land to be left bare. This, not surprisingly, ate into the water catchment on the hill and caused the erosion.
“This is not 1,000 acres or hectares. It’s 30,000 acres (12,000 ha). There is no ecological way for the land to cope with such a level of deforestation and floods were natural with the progression of time.”
Malaysian Bar Council Environment and Climate Change Committee deputy chairman Kiu Jia Yaw said the state government had to be taken to task for not giving the people answers on why the disaster took place.
He said the public sector and the state government should explain the incident clearly, particularly the preliminary cause of the floods, as it was the custodian of all data, such as titles, permissions and enforcement in Kedah.
Kiu said it was peculiar that the MB had gone on the defence and made a specific statement by saying “there is no evidence of active logging in the area”.
“People died and were swept away from their homes and bedrooms, and that’s the explanation given.”
He added that this was the grim reality faced by Malaysians, that is, an unwillingness on the part of those in public service to take responsibility.
He said the government needed to give the public more explanation promptly, and agencies should have all data up on their sites within a day or two of such incidents.