After Kuala Langat U-turn, NGOs urge Selangor to stop encroachment at Batu Caves

 

A group of NGOs have called on the Selangor government to stop encroachment at the Batu Caves Reserve.

This is after they discovered that private land titles were issued to 17 parcels of land in the reserve - thereby violating the National Land Code.

"We, therefore, demand that Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari provide an explanation. Any land titles that were granted unlawfully should be cancelled.

"The Batu Caves Reserve must be expanded, not cut back.

"The state must respect Batu Caves as a national treasure. Otherwise, we risk losing this site which holds unique species and outstanding ecological, geological and cultural value," the NGOs said in a joint statement today.

Among the 17 signatories are the Batu Caves Special Interest Group, research firm Resource Stewardship Consultant Sdn Bhd (Rescu), Sahabat Alam Malaysia and Greenpeace Malaysia.

The 272-ha Batu Caves Reserve, which encompasses the hill where the famed Hindu temple of the same name is located, was first gazetted in 1930.

This map of the Batu Caves Reserve (green outline), shows the recently alienated lots (in red plots)

However, part of the reserve to the east has already been developed - and this is where most of the new land titles were granted.

According to Rescu managing director Teckwyn Lim, the developed areas in the reserve are squatter areas that emerged in the 1980s and had steadily grown since then, encroaching into the reserve.

He told Malaysiakini that no notable developers were among the new land title holders.

Meanwhile, the group of NGOs also expressed concern over a case of open burning next to the Batu Caves limestone hill, back on Aug 9.

They recalled how a fire in 2016 scarred the east side of the hill.

"Following the fire, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah called for greater protection for the Batu Caves hill.

"However, a third of the 145ha hill remains unprotected. The last five years since the fire have seen the state government giving the hill no additional protection," they said,

The group said the government must give protection to the whole of the Batu Caves hill and its buffer zones, and avoid another damaging fire.

The call for better protection of Batu Caves comes after the Selangor government U-turned on a plan to degazette half of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve for development - following a major public backlash.

Malaysiakini is trying to get comments from the Selangor government over the Batu Caves issue. - Mkini