Otai Reformis secretary Abdul Razak Ismail said the approval showed that the state government, which is under Pakatan Harapan (PH), did not care about the objections made by various parties, including over 50,000 people, Orang Asli and NGOs about the degazettement.
They also regretted that the state assembly’s decision last year to protect the forest reserve had been revoked.
“The Selangor government’s action is an affront to the thousands of people who are truly concerned about the forest reserve and the environment,” he told FMT.
The group also expressed disappointment with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim for failing to advise Selangor menteri besar Amirudin Shari, who is from his own party, to prevent the degazettement of the forest.
Otai and COEN had written an appeal letter in April seeking Anwar’s intervention to prevent the deforestation but nothing happened.
“Anwar’s failure and weakness to act decisively against the Selangor MB from his own party explains why PH failed to obtain a ‘commanding majority’ to take over Putrajaya,” Razak said, referring to the political turmoil in the country earlier this month following the resignation of Muhyiddin Yassin as prime minister.
Citing sources, he alleged that the land was handed over to a company established on Nov 2, 2020 with a paid-up capital of only RM1.00.
“We believe this company is a ‘proxy’ company because upon further investigation, we found out that it was linked to the largest logging company in Asia, which is based in Sarawak,” Razak said.
The Selangor government has agreed to degazette 536.7 hectares of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve for redevelopment, state executive councillor for environment Hee Loy Sian said.
He added that the decision was made at the state executive council meeting on May 5 based on Section 12 of the National Forestry Act 1984.
Hee, who is the Kajang assemblyman from PKR, explained that the total area earmarked for redevelopment was now 54% of the 931.16 hectares that had been mooted earlier, and had taken into account objections that had been raised following the initial proposal.