Group: Forest dept making contradictory claims over land excision

 

The Selangor Forestry Department had made allegedly contradictory claims in justifying the “backdated” excision of land from the Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve.

The department’s silviculture and biological forest preservation director Ahmad Fadzil Abdul Majid had claimed that the excision has been “pending” since 2006 and hence was not subjected to a 2011 law mandating public hearings prior to an excision exercise.

In a statement today, Shah Alam Community Forest Society (SACFS) said Fadzil’s position was contradictory because if a decision was put on hold until now then new laws must apply.

“(Moreover)... our lawyers advised us that there is no provision in the forestry law that allows the back-dating of excision notifications,” said SACFS.

Public hearings on state government proposals to excise land from a forest reserve are mandated under Section 11 of the Selangor's National Forestry Act (Adoption) (Amendment) Enactment 1985.

In 2021, the Selangor government backed down from a decision to excise a large part of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve following a public hearing.

At the time, the state government promised “replacement” forest reserves and provided proper notice for the hearings to be held, albeit at a location that was very far from the affected area.

On May 5, 2022, the state government quietly completed the excision of a 406.22ha plot of land from the Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve for the Bandar Sierra Alam housing project owned by state-owned Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).

For the SACFS, the case of Bukit Cherakah was far worse as not only was the excision “backdated”, there was no prior notice or announcement of a “replacement area”.

SACFS said “replacement” forest reserves is mandated by law since 1984. Under the law, Selangor must keep 30 percent of its land as “forest reserves”.

In view of this, the SACFS urged Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari to halt forest clearance in the affected area and hold a public inquiry. - Mkini