In today’s Sin Chew Jit Poh headline news, it was reported that Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob when commenting on the Ringlet mud flood, has commented that excessive land clearing has resulted in the mud flood.
He said that he had surveyed Cameron Highlands many times by air and noticed that Cameron Highlands forest have been stripped bare due to excessive land clearing, whether done legally or legally.
He was quoted to further say that if the state government carries out strict enforcement, there will be people who will immediately attack the government as being unhumanitarian, but this is the result ( mud flood ) if no strict enforcement is done.
Adnan’s remarks are unacceptable and are merely said to divert attention from the real issue—that the government has failed in its responsibility to prevent excessive land clearing.
In fact, by saying so, he was admitting that the government has failed to carry out the necessary enforcement.
Does he really think that he can convince the public that due to its fear of being criticized, the state government has refrained from doing what it should do to prevent excessive land clearing?
And since Adnan knew that lack of strict enforcement will result in mud flood which will cause loss of lives and damage to properties, how could he have failed to take the necessary, immediate and effective actions and measures to prevent and resolve the problem.
A responsible government will not allow excessive land clearing to happen and will not, after the occurrence of a mud flood as what has happened in Ringlet; say that strict enforcement will cause state government to be criticized.
Cameron Highlands is one of the most popular tourists spots in Malaysia, the occurrence of mud floods will also cause tourists to stay away from the area and thus local tourism will be hurt.
Adnan must be reminded that it is the responsibility of his government to prevent and resolve the excusive land clearing problem, and he must not try to find any excuses for the government’s incompetency and inefficiency.
On July 6 this year, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Palanivel said rampant illegal land clearing and occupation in Cameron Highlands had increasingly become rampant, resulting in the affected areas facing risks like landslides and flashfloods .
But what was shocking was that he also said “This land encroachment is happening all the time and is a big problem in the highlands there. I don’t know what’s the source of the problem, which is difficult to control although there is monitoring done.”
How pathetic can it be that when the problem is already so serious, yet we can have a Minister who said he did not know the source of the problem and a Mentri Besar who claimed strict enforcement will invite criticisms.