Saving Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve

Malaysians are celebrating an unprecedented about-turn by the Selangor state government after they announced they will no longer go ahead with their controversial plan to develop the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve amidst widespread condemnation from the public. 

The forest reserve is mostly peat swamp and a habitat for rare species such as the Malayan sun bear (Scientific name: Helarctos malayanus) and Selangor pygmy flying squirrel (Scientific name: Petaurillus kinlochii). 

Fifty-four percent of the forest was degazetted by the Selangor state government in May. And the area, 536.7 hectares (1,326.2 acres) in total, was earmarked for a mixed development, with 494.7 hectares (1,222.4 acres) promised to private company Gabungan Indah Sdn Bhd, which planned to develop much of the land into permanent housing. 

The degazettement caused a massive outcry from citizens and lawmakers alike as Selangor’s ruling party, the national opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, had campaigned on a reforestation and conservation manifesto. 

Even the Selangor state legislature had voted unanimously against the proposal to degazette the forest reserve last year, issuing a statement that urged Selangor’s Executive Council to protect and preserve forest reserves. But, the Executive Council, made up of the Menteri Besar (right) and some members of the legislature, chose to move ahead with the development plans. 

The public was only informed on August 30, and on September 08, after protests from citizens and lawmakers alike reached a crescendo, the Selangor government relented and abandoned their plans. 

Some of the forests in Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve are up to 8,000 years old, but have suffered dramatically at the hands of deforestation. A total of 7,246.96 hectares (17,907.6 acres) was gazetted as a permanent forest reserve in 1927, but today only 957.6 hectares (2,366.3 acres), or just 13%, remain. 

Unlike in the rest of Malaysia, Selangor mandates public hearings for any plan to degazette forest reserves, which has allowed this proposal to be publicly scrutinized and criticized. 

Following the successful fight to protect this forest reserve, Selangor lawmaker Elizabeth Wong (left) has proposed this legal provision to hold public hearings be included in the National Forestry Act “in order to further protect forests in the country, which are increasingly vulnerable to development and economic activities”. 

Therefore, the majority of the 536.7 hectares will be regazetted as permanent forest reserve. Only 42.1 hectares (104 acres) will remain degazetted to complete the land ownership to Busut Baru Orang Asli village as compensation for displacing the tribe in 1993. The ethnic Temuan community was forced to leave their ancestral home in Sepang to make way for the construction of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 

Thank heavens, the forest is saved!