TASIK Kenyir residents do not believe the Terengganu government’s denial that logging beyond the manmade lake caused the landslides and severe floods that hit their villages last week.

They wanted to know how else timber waste would have washed down, causing severe destruction to their district.

Alias Pelong, 56, who lives in Kampung Sungai Berua, Hulu Berang, said the Orang Asli community who live near the lake have long been affected by logging.

They used to be able to forage up to 20km upstream into the forest but now have to travel much further, as logging has stripped the forest of the plants they use for food and medicine.

“In the past, we could find food in the upstream area but that area has been taken from us and logging came in.

“When it started, forest products became less, so we had to move looking elsewhere further around Tasik Kenyir.

“The journey alone takes three or four hours,” Alias, who is also the chairman of the Sg Bera village security and development committee, said.

Last weekend, severe floods hit Kampung Sungai Berua and several other areas in Hulu Terengganu, demolishing an Orang Asli school and houses.

The Terengganu Forestry Department has rejected the argument that illegal logging caused the landslides and floods.

There was a landslide, it said, but it coincided with a “water head” (kepala air) that pushed down trees, broken logs, branches and leaves downstream.

However, Alias said the Orang Asli don’t believe this as they had never before experienced such a severe flood. Tasik Kenyir is in Hulu Terengganu, the worst affected area.

“During the flood on March 1, the water rose in the village at 6am. We tried to save things at the school, which was 6m deep in water, but we couldn’t do so.

“I told the residents to evacuate. My house was not affected, maybe because it was on higher ground, but my son’s house was badly damaged,” he said.

The 600-strong community at Kampung Sungai Berua originally lived at the site which has since been covered by Tasik Kenyir. They were relocated to make way for a dam that formed the reservoir.

After last week’s flood, a video went viral showing the lake, which is famous for routes and also feeds the hydroelectric dam, littered with debris and logs.

Besides the Forestry Department’s denial, Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar also rejected the logging argument, saying the department had investigated areas near the dam and found no logging there.

However, landslides brought down an electricity transmission tower that supplies power to the national grid, forcingTenaga Nasional Berhad to shut down power stations in the area.

Lakeside logging

Although the state government denied it, Ghazali Abd Rahman, a resident of Kampung Jenagor, said people in the area have known of logging near the reservoir. His own house is about 4km from the lake.

Ghazali, who is also a fisherman in Tasik Kenyir, said logging had actually started since the time of the Barisan Nasional (BN) state government.

He did not specify when exactly, as control of Terengganu has changed hands between BN and PAS, which won the state in 1999 and again in 2018.

“Logging was stopped for a while, then last year, we fishermen who work at the lake noticed it again last year,” he said.

Ghazali said they were shocked to see logging taking place in the areas close to the lake, but he did say that it was not going on near the hydroelectric dam.

“The fishermen and residents here know about it, but it is hard to voice our concerns because the authorities never say if it is legal or illegal logging.

“We feel like there is nothing we can do,” he said.

Ghazali said the Tasik Kenyir area, which covers 36,900ha, provides a livelihood to people there who work in agriculture and fisheries.

“There are about 40 fishermen in Tasik Kenyir from Jenagor and Kampung Dura. Imagine if logging is not controlled and its effect on the people,” he said.

State government doesn’t understand nature

Tasik Kenyir, built in 1985 for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation, also serves for flood mitigation.

It is on the north side of the Tembat Permanent Forest Reserve, while south is the Hulu Terengganu Permanent Forest Reserve, close to Taman Negara.

Environmental activist Suzairi Zakaria, who works on conservation of the area’s flora, said there was logging in Sungai Como and in the Hulu Terengganu Forest Reserve near Kampung Kemat.

He urged the government to review logging in the lake area, or face the destruction of natural habitats and loss of biodiversity.

“It will also affect the quality of drinking water,” he added.

“It will result in water treatment plants not being able to process water properly and will certainly have an impact on public health.”

The state government cannot afford to ignore these issues for the sake of profit, he added.

“They want profit but don’t realise they end up spending more to mitigate and repair after disasters like this.

“We are not saying there should be no logging, but it should be controlled. There is also the issue of corruption because some areas where logging should not be allowed have been approved.”

Suzairi also said the state cannot keep saying logging was not a factor in landslides and floods.

While it is true that unusually heavy rain is a major factor, it is also true that undisturbed forests will be able to absorb rainfall and prevent landslides from happening.

Logging is indeed a factor as it strips the ground of cover and causes erosion, he said.

“Logging speeds up the erosion process and when rain falls continuously, the situation can only get worse.”

Meanwhile, Malaysiakini reported that satellite images accessible through Global Forest Watch show signs of logging activity within 1km of Tasik Kenyir, despite the state government’s denial. – March 7, 2022.