Mukhriz denies previous Kedah govt involved in durian farm blamed for floods

 

Former Kedah menteri besar Mukhriz Mahathir has dismissed allegations that the state government was involved in a Musang King durian farm in Gunung Inas when he was in power, after the project was blamed for causing deadly floods in Baling on Monday.

This came after an article was published in PAS mouthpiece Harakah Daily yesterday, detailing several flood incidents and durian farming activity in the area, together with a chronology of events, which is said to have been taken from a Malay daily.

Darulnaim Research Centre’s Zikrullah Ismail who penned the article said Pakatan Harapan supporters shouldn't blame Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor because the incumbent menteri besar was the one who cleaned up the mess and put a stop to the durian farm project in July 2020.

"When Sanusi ordered the durian farm project to be halted, 809ha had been planted," he said, adding that this reflected the strength of the farming operators during the Harapan era.

When contacted, Mukhriz pointed out that the clearing of the forest reserves was done by the PAS-led government in Kedah between 2008 and 2013, which was also done in Kelantan.

He also noted there were concerns over the logging activities involving 400ha of forest reserves in Tasik Pedu, Padang Terap, forest reserve in Bukit Bintang and Gunung Inas.

According to Mukhriz, the late former menteri besar Azizan Abdul Razak said the state government was pushing for the country's first agrotourism park in Tasik Pedu in November 2012.

Mukhriz, who was still with Umno then, said he was against the logging activities.

"As early as 2012, I had led the campaign against the then PAS state government’s Ladang Sejahtera project in Pedu and Gunung Inas.

"We protested against the state government encroaching into forest reserves even for agriculture projects. It became worse when the replanting was not done after the felling of trees.

“So it seemed that the main intention was only to extract high-value logs from the virgin forest," he told Malaysiakini.

Improper replanting

Mukhriz, who helmed the state from May 2013 to February 2016 under BN and once more in May 2018 to May 2020 under Harapan, also questioned the chronology published in the Harakah article.

"The reported chronology of events only started from November 2018 as if nothing happened before that," he said.

The chronology order published was between November 2018 and July 2020.

According to the article, terrace work in Gunung Inas was in full swing in November 2018 with staff hostels and a sewage system that directly channelled waste into the river, which was the clean water supply for 21,000 villagers from 17 villages.

"Both the Ladang Sejahtera project in Kedah, and Ladang Rakyat project in Kelantan were not properly executed in that the replanting of rubber wood, trees for commercial logging or even Musang King was not done as initially proposed.

“In Kedah, it was subsequent state governments that started replanting works," Mukhriz said.

The Jerlun MP stressed that it is also important to acknowledge that it is not the replanting that causes erosion of soil leading to floods.

“Although terracing of land for planting does contribute to some erosion, it is the act of clear-felling that is the prime cause of rainwater flowing freely on exposed soil into rivers," he added.

On July 5, state and federal ministers denied any link between a durian plantation and the cause of the devastating floods in Baling, which killed three people.

This is despite the existence of a 21ha Musang King plantation in the Gunung Inas Forest Reserve about a kilometre upstream from the villages, which locals blamed for the floods. - Mkini