BALING: 36 civil society organisations today urged the government to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the Musang King plantation in Gunung Inas following massive floods that ravaged 12 villages in Kupang here.
The non-governmental organisations also demanded the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to conduct a thorough investigation on the project owner and all parties involved.
A spokesman for the NGOs, Mohd Sobri Ramlee, said the government should reveal the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and all other reports on the Musang King plantation to the public.
"We are calling for the ElA report and others by government agencies on the Musang King durian plantation project to be made available publicly to ensure transparency and to allow due investigations to be carried out on the cause of the flood.
"We are also calling for the government to set up a RCI to scrutinise the entire project and for a thorough investigation by the MACC on the project owner and all parties involved," he said while reading out a joint press statement in Kampung Iboi, Kupang, here today.
They also said that the Musang King plantation was located on a 25-degree slope, which should have been protected against erosion as per the ElA.
"These hills pose soil erosion risks, as proven during the Baling floods that saw tree trunks and sediments washing down to the villages by the heavy rainfall".
The organisations also expressed frustration over the July 4 incident, despite repeated complaints by villagers, environmentalists and non-governmental organisations against the Musang King plantation since 2018.
Following the incident, the NGOs were calling for immediate reforestation and remedial efforts to be initiated as soon as possible to prevent the incident from recurring.
"The state government should give fair compensation to all victims, many of whom not only lost their homes, but also their livelihoods," said Sobri.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman called for the Musang King plantation to be discontinued as durian trees were not listed under the Forest Plantation Development Programme by the Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia and the Plantation Industries and Commodities Ministry.
"All 36 NGOs are of the opinion that forest farming should not be carried out in any permanent forest reserve, be it timber latex clone or Musang King, because it will destroy natural forest covers. For example, in Gunung Inas, one project alone covers 500 hectares. Furthermore, the forest farming is being carried out in a Level 1 Sensitive Area.
"The project is also located on the Ecological Network Area of the Central Forest Spine (Primary Linkage 5) as detailed in the Central Forest Spine (CFS) Masterplan and National Physical Plan.
"The CFS has critical mountain watersheds and catchment areas that supply water for 90 per cent of the country's population by providing climate regulation, soil protection and carbon storage while preventing a conflict between wild animals and humans," he said.
In a related development, the NGOs had also called for the state government to review other development and forest clearing projects in Kedah, including in the Ulu Muda and Teloi Forest Reserves in Sik.
"We are told the logging in Teloi Forest Reserve is being carried out to make way for another Musang King plantation. We suspect the logging in Teloi Forest Reserve is creating another disaster time bomb in Kedah. The project is already causing floods in six villages in Teloi and Sik town," he said.
Kampung Masjid Iboi villager Zaidi Abdullah, 45, supported the NGOs call to set up a RCI to investigate the Musang King plantation.
"There is no use for finger-pointing now. We want accountability because three lives have been lost," he said.
Kampung Bukit Iboi villager Azhar Mad Isa claimed that heavy machinery in the Musang King plantation were still operating despite being slapped with a stop-work order by the state.
In the July 4 incident, 12 villages were inundated after heavy rain triggered a water column to come gushing down from Gunung Inas. More than 800 homes were damaged, with at least 17 being totally destroyed and 18 were badly damaged.
A woman, who was four months pregnant, was killed together with her mother-in-law and 14-year-old brother-in-law when their house was swept away by the strong currents.