He said due to its global significance as a nature reserve, Pulau Kukup must be given national park status under the National Parks Act 1980, and should be managed by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks under the federal government.
“It’s unsuitable and inappropriate to hold a large nature reserve of international importance as sultanate land. The Sultanate Land Enactment 1934, which vests land in the ruler personally, was not meant to be used for this purpose.
“It’s baffling that it’s being suggested that the best way to manage nature parks in states is to transfer it as sultanate land,” Surendran told FMT, adding that there were no good reasons for the move.
He also criticised comparisons between sultanate land and royal parks in London, which are owned by the Crown and managed by the Royal Parks, calling these “baseless”.
“Royal parks in the greater London area are held as Crown land due to a historical anomaly peculiar to English history.
“It is an antiquated system and there have been calls recently to transfer London parks to local councils. There are no reasonable grounds to take this as an example to be emulated in Johor,” Surendran said.
The Johor state government recently assured that Pulau Kukup would remain as a national park.
Menteri Besar Osman Sapian said, following discussions with Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, that the ruler had decreed that Pulau Kukup, located in the Pontian district, would remain a national park after becoming sultanate land.
The sultan also decreed that the state government would be required to guard and manage Pulau Kukup under the Johor National Park Corporation.
Osman also said the decision to de-gazette Pulau Kukup as a national park was made by the previous Barisan Nasional state government.
However, Surendran said the menteri besar’s announcement was not good enough.
“The exco must now decide to re-gazette Pulau Kukup as a national park. The menteri besar saying it will be maintained as such is not good enough. It must be legally re-gazetted,” he said.
Conservationist Surin Suksuwan also disagreed with the comparison between sultanate land and Crown land.
He said Crown land in the UK and some other Commonwealth countries might have started as land belonging to the monarch but was now managed as public land.
“In the UK, profits from Crown estates are surrendered to the British Parliament,” he said in a statement.
“Parks such as Hyde Park are not the same as national parks. The former is mainly for recreation while national parks are mainly for biodiversity conservation.”
Surin, who is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature World Commission on Protected Areas, cited the Royal Belum state park which has royal status while continuing to be protected as a state park under the Perak State Parks Corporation Enactment.
Pulau Kukup, on the other hand, would no longer enjoy such protection as it had been de-gazetted as a national park.
“The Johor National Parks Corporation Enactment can no longer be enforced within the Pulau Kukup sultanate land,” he said.
However, he disagreed with Surendran that Pulau Kukup should be placed under the Department of Wildlife and National Parks.
He said re-gazetting it under the Johor National Parks Corporation Enactment would allow the Johor National Park Corporation to manage it more effectively.
Pulau Kukup is the second largest uninhabited mangrove island in the world and listed as a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention 1971.
Environmentalists previously warned that its de-gazettement would have serious international implications, including hurting Malaysia’s reputation and affecting funding by international donors.
Pulau Kukup’s status came under scrutiny after it was reported that the Johor government had revoked its status as a national park through a gazette in October.