Penang, Government of Competency, Accountability and Transparency: Deceit, Lies and Typically Hypocrite, Part 2

With massive and constant development of luxurious projects becoming priority, Penangites are left neglected. Where are the much needed local medium cost housing to accommodate the majority medium to low income population? Environmental issues too, particularly on the island takes a back seat with the Penang state administration led by DAP. 

Reclaimed lands are opened and grabbed like hot cakes by developers as they are converted to freehold land, thus projecting higher returns, despite the National Land Code proviso under Section 76 amended by the Parliament in 1985. 

“Any subsequent conversion to the status from leasehold to freehold by the State, notwithstanding that the foreshore or sea-bed have now been reclaimed, would be tantamount to an attempt to circumvent the restriction of Section 76 and hence be ultra vires the National Land Code.” 

Penang had seen better days of the monsoon seasons. However, these days, heavy downpour had caused flashfloods with traffic in several areas come to a standstill. Outward and inward bound flights are interrupted with boarding passengers missing their flights. Productivity in the Asia Silicon Valley, is grossly affected, with investors pondering to ship out. 

The current state leadership has been instrumental and vocally oppose to the development that may destruct the flora and fauna in the hills, hence the massive Penang Global City Centre (PGCC) project prior to GE 2008, send BN packing in Penang. 

Yet, today, the voice that orchestrated to protect the fragility of the eco-system has made a ‘U’ turn. The campaign “Healthier, Greener, Greener and Safer Penang” is not translated in protecting the pristine landscape and land for generations to come. 

The Special Area Plan (SAP) was gazetted in August 2016 by the state government allowing “low density development” on Penang Hill. Hill tops and slopes are left to fend by itself? The focus is on the luxury project that has jeopardized the environmental aspects and the economic livelihood at shorelines. 

Several parts of the island and mainland of Penang became victim of rampant illegal activities. Bukit Relau dubbed the Bukit Botak with road scaled to the top is noticeable from the mainland. Massive illegal hill slopes clearing for agriculture at Bukit Kukus of Paya Terubong and at Level 45 station at Penang Hill. The water catchment at Bukit Laksamana, Telok Bahang will soon house mixed development project. 

Certainly, the interpretation “the end justifies the means” sits well with the state government. Or should we say, when there is calamity or hardship, the Federal Government must bear the brunt of the state’s doing?

Deforestation: For Wealth or Ecological Sustenance and Stability?

The Orang Asli population command 1% of Malaysia’s population and recognised by the Malaysian government, yet their rights to the land is unbelievably denied or put to test. The state of Kelantan was one of the worst for indigenous land rights and deforestation, the same issues had affected indigenous communities across the country for decades. 

On Wednesday, a heated confrontation turned battleground was reported between the Orang Asli community and loggers in the jungle on the tract of land located between Pos Tohoi and Pos Simpor, a two and a half drive from Gua Musang, Kelantan. 

The recent land dispute became the center of argument when the Orang Asli claimed as their customary and ancestral land, while the loggers armed with shotgun and chainsaws having the concession from the authorities to clear the land for rubber trees re-plantation. The logging not only threatens the livelihood of the indigenous people, but also desecrates their past when the digging takes place at grave sites. 

The situation is notably tense since claims by both party maybe right and justified. The logging licences obtained from the Kelantan Forestry Department cannot be refuted. Then again, for the Orang Asli community one of the indigenous ethnics with its majority living in the interior; the jungle is their settlement and livelihood. 

Have we not learned history of the ‘great’ race occupying new frontiers and horizons of the natives? The Red Indians oppressed by the White migrants looking for greener pastures. The Spanish conquistadors conquered and annihilated the Inca civilization. Or the penal settlers from the Great Britain and Europe overrun the Aborigines in Australia? 

“When they develop the land, they destroy everything inside the jungle,” said Azmi Badul, chairman of the Kelantan Network of Orang Asli Villages (JKOAK). The logging businesses have long presence in the region's expansive jungles, but the rate of deforestation has increased in the past decade as private companies clear-cut the forests. 

Deforestation not only affected the natural resources, it too is making the indigenous communities' traditional way of life difficult to maintain. Rivers runs dry or contaminated and food sources are threatened as a result of persistent logging, threatening the way of life for the indigenous people living in Malaysia's forests. 

Land development undertaken by the government in the area of aboriginal land has caused much conflicts between the developer and the local communities, resulting to the Orang Asli involved left homeless and in search of resources to maintain their livelihood.  

Astonishingly the National Land Code 1965 gives importance to the land registered in the Land Registry while the ancestral lands inherited from generation to generation not protected under the laws of Malaysia, thus allowing state government authorities to invoke Land Acquisition Act 1960 on the Orang Asli. 

According to a 2012 study by the University of Maryland using Google Maps data, Malaysia has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. Most of the land is cleared for palm oil or rubber plantations, which have played a major role in Malaysia's economic growth. The logging industry too is inviting to myriads of issues; bribery, abuse of powers, ecological side effects to name a few. 

Deforestation is believed the contributing factor to the size of the flooding that hit in December 2014, killing 23 people and forcing more than 200,000 from their homes. While flooding is an annual occurrence, the December floods were the worst on record in Malaysia for 30 years. 

"If you don't respect the forest, this is what happens," says one Orang Asli.