The city council had also agreed to send council staff for training on ecological rehabilitation and restoration next week in Kuala Lumpur.
In a statement today, the Penang Forum steering committee said the policy change on action against hill-clearing offences was agreed after a meeting with the mayor and city council officers on Thursday.
The meeting was a follow-up to earlier discussions at which the Penang Forum team had protested against a developer’s actions in clearing the hilltop at Bukit Relau, which had given rise to outrage among concerned Penangites who dubbed it Bukit Botak.
On Thursday, “various clarifications were made regarding the current situation with both Botak Hill and other illegal hill clearings. Penang Forum is happy to learn that charges will now be made under Section 19 of the Town & Country Planning Act, which carries a jail term, for future hill-clearing offenses.”
Penang Forum, a coalition of residents associations and other civil society bodies, had complained in the past that the city had let off errant developers lightly, where the development companies had merely been fined.
At a public forum in December, lawyer Agatha Foo had said that the council had merely given developers “a slap on the wrist” with fines of between RM50,000 and RM500,000 under state law, the Drainage and Building Enactment, and that developers paid such fines as part of their development expenditure.
However, she said tougher action was provided under federal law, the Town & Country Planning Act, by which directors and managers of errant companies would be held responsible and could face jail terms.
In 2013, the late Karpal Singh, a prominent lawyer and opposition MP, had also called for developers to be jailed and blacklisted from future projects. Other activists concerned with protecting Penang’s natural heritage have also raised the matter.
Penang Forum said the council had been urged to seek restoration of Bukit Relau, where the developer had built roads ostensibly for “mitigation” efforts after public complaints. However, politicians and activists have said the “mitigation” efforts were a smokescreen for further development of multi-million ringgit bungalows on the hill top.
Penang Forum said both sides had agreed to work together to save the hills of Penang.
READ MORE:
Karpal: Jail those who clear hills illegally
The worrying state of hill degradation in Penang
Smokescreen to protect developer’s interest