Regazette Kuala Langat forest, stop stalling - group

 

The Pertahankan Hutan Simpan Kuala Langat Utara (PHSKLU) coalition called on the Selangor state government to regazette the Kuala Langat (North) forest.

The coalition wants Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari to regazette 1,222 acres (494.5 hectares) and to stop “stalling the process”, it said in a statement today.

It also wants 104 acres (42 hectares) to remain degazetted and set aside for Kampung Orang Asli Busut Baru.

“We demand the regazettement be done immediately to ensure the forest remains untouched and reserved for protection, and thus removing all threats to the current degazetted portion of the forest.

“We further reiterate that there should be no development and disturbance on this degazetted portion of the forest reserve during this time,” said PHSKLU.

Further, the coalition rejected Amirudin’s reasoning that there is a need to retain part of the forest for the possibility of continuing the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL).

“The urgent timeline to protect this forest during this time of an obvious climate crisis and ongoing environmental degradation cannot be linked to the timeline of an infrastructure project that takes years to develop.

“We emphasise that the regazettement of the 1,222 hectares of the forest must be carried out in full, without conditions and without caveats,” said the group.

The group’s statement today referred to what Amirudin said in December 2021.

Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari

At the time, the menteri besar declared that the Selangor government was aiming to regazette the Kuala Langat (North) forest into a permanent reserve by the first quarter of 2022.

However, the stated regazettement would still leave out a portion of the forest, which Amirudin said will be kept for the possible continuity of the ECRL, dubbed the Seremban Bypass.

This is on top of another small plot that Selangor already reserved to compensate an Orang Asli community.

PHSKLU stressed that all planning and development in Selangor must address their impact on the environment.

Gazetting the Kuala Langat (North) forest, the group said, is crucial to reducing net carbon emissions and materialise the state’s aspirations to be a low carbon state.

The statement was co-signed by 16 members of the PHSKLU coalition - which includes Five Arts Centre, Center for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC), Greenpeace Malaysia, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM), and Rimba Disclosure Project. - Mkini