Bar tells Selangor to follow due process when excising forest reserves

 

The Malaysian Bar has urged the Selangor state government to continue to protect its permanent forest reserves and that due process should be followed when removing such lands from their protected status.

Bar president AG Kalidas said the Bar is “deeply concerned” by Selangor exco member Hee Loy Sian’s purported position that portions of forests reserves in Shah Alam have been “degazetted” because land titles have already been issued to private developers.

He urged the state government to uphold the rule of law and pointed out that Section 13(1) of the National Forestry Act 1984 stipulates that any land excised from a permanent reserved forest should be published in the Gazette.

“It is not disputed that there is no such publication of the purported excision of the forest in the government Gazette. Hence, as long as a permanent reserved forest has not been excised through the publication of a notice in the government Gazette, the subject land - in this case, the Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve in Section U10 - continues to be a permanent reserved forest.

“The Malaysian Bar is therefore deeply concerned with the Selangor state government’s position as expressed by Hee.

“This case highlights fundamental legal issues. The state government must demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law. It cannot refer to the de facto position (that land titles have been issued to private developers) as a determination of the de jure position, ie the legal status of the land.

“It is of no answer to concerned members of the public that the purported excision was carried out by the previous administration,” he said in a statement yesterday.

“The Malaysian Bar calls on the Selangor government, and indeed all state governments, to approach any excision of permanent reserved forests conscientiously and vigilantly, in order to protect the human rights of present and future generations.

“State governments must act as the protector and custodian of nature and not be a facilitator of its destruction. Where the due process of excision of any permanent reserved forests has not been followed, the state must take the position that the status of the land remains protected,” he added.

Kalidas was responding to a report by The Star on Oct 23 that quoted Hee saying, “If the said plots had not been degazetted, land titles could not be issued.”

Hee - who is in charge of the state’s tourism, environment, green technology and Orang Asli affairs - was in turn responding to the Shah Alam Community Forest Society’s contention that portions of the Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve slated for development could still be part of the reserve due to a lack of a gazettement notice.

In previous statements, Hee had argued that the degazetting of the land had taken place in 2006, and NGOs protesting the move should ask the previous BN-led administration why no notice was published. - Mkini