NGO wants in on probe team
Penang Forum demands to be included in landslide investigation
GEORGE TOWN: The special investigative committee of the Bukit Kukus landslide should have at least two NGO members, says NGO coalition Penang Forum.
It wants at least two of its members – an engineer and a lawyer – to be among the investigators.
Penang Forum steering committee member Khoo Salma Nasution said the minutes and notes of the committee should also be made public.
“For the interest of transparency, members of such commissions should not be bound by secrecy laws.
“We also demand that the meeting minutes and reports of Ops Lumpur be declassified and made available to the public,” she said during a peaceful protest outside City Hall yesterday to show solidarity for victims of the Oct 19 landslide which claimed nine lives.
Ops Lumpur was launched shortly after the general election, requiring enforcement officers from local councils to inspect and report on every construction site in all five districts in the state.
But sources claimed that none of the construction projects checked complied with the soil erosion mitigation plans.
About 50 people were present at the one-hour protest, which saw them holding up placards and observing a minute of silence.
Khoo said that the state should expand the scope of Ops Lumpur to include efforts to enforce and rehabilitate damaged slopes.
She said activists of Penang Hill Watch, a movement by Penang Forum for the public to report illegal hill clearing, had repeatedly alerted the authorities to hill clearing and should be invited as observers of Ops Lumpur and not be bound by secrecy laws.
“There must be consistent monitoring and not just one-off inspections.
“We again call on the state to review its policies and guidelines on hill development and call for a moratorium on all hill development and highway projects over hills.
“Until the state has a done a com- prehensive check on all slopes, taken remedial actions and completed the rehabilitation of damaged slopes, hill development should be banned,” she said.
Khoo met Penang Island City Council mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang after the council meeting for a dialogue and handed him a report by Penang Hill Watch documenting 180 cases of hillside clearing since October 2017.
Yew said the council shared similar concerns with Penang Forum on the Bukit Kukus landslide tragedy and was investigating the cause.
“The Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Construction Industry Development Board and police have initiated investigations, too.
“We have also set up our own committee headed by myself and other engineers to conduct an internal investigation,” he said.
At a separate event, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said he would consider the request by Penang Forum to add its members to the investigative committee.
“We included two to three geo-technical engineers and two more engineers from the Institution of Engineers Malaysia (IEM) and will review Penang Forum’s request,” Chow said after the opening ceremony at IEM Penang in Lebuh Tunku Kudin.