Return Pulau Kukup to state govt, Johor PKR chief appeals to Sultan

Sultan Ibrahim has decreed that Pulau Kukup will remain a national park even after becoming sultanate land. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Johor PKR chairman Hassan Karim is appealing to the state’s ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar to return Pulau Kukup’s ownership to the state in order to have it re-gazetted as a national park.

“We respect our ruler and I appeal to him to return ownership to the Johor government.

“I believe that Menteri Besar Osman Sapian will be able to assist in this,” Nanyang Siang Pau quoted Hassan as saying outside the Pontian district police station yesterday.

Hassan, who is a lawyer, was accompanying Pontian DAP district councillor Kamarul Ariffin Harris Fadzillah, who was called by police for questioning yesterday regarding his Facebook post that allegedly insulted the Johor royal family.

Kamarul has since deleted his Facebook post and apologised to those whom he had offended.

Johor PKR chairman Hassan Karim.

Hassan was quoted as saying that police were investigating Kamarul for criminal defamation but they did not arrest the DAP member on Monday night.

Pulau Kukup, located off the coast of Pontian in south Johor, was in the limelight after it was reported that the Johor government had revoked its status as a national park through a gazette in October.

Several individuals and NGOs then voiced concern over the de-gazetting of the park.

The state government said later that Sultan Ibrahim had decreed that Pulau Kukup would remain a national park even after it became sultanate land.

Pulau Kukup is the second largest uninhabited mangrove island in the world and is listed as a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention 1971. - FMT