A MONTH after a report highlighted 16 new cases of hillside clearing and construction activities in Penang was handed over to the state government, activists said they have yet to receive any feedback.

Of the 16 cases, two of the areas highlighted had seen fatal landslides – Bukit Kukus on October 19, which claimed nine lives, and the Granito landslide last year, which claimed 11 lives.

“We have given the state four reports, the latest in September this year. We highlighted our observations on hill-clearing activities, including at the Bukit Kukus site,” said Rexy Prakash Chacko, a Penang Forum activist who coordinates the Penang Hills Watch (PHW) initiative.

PHW was launched by Penang Forum in October 2016 to monitor “on-the-ground observations of hill-clearing activities”.

Of the 184 cases PHW had documented on its interactive mapping website, about 90 were sourced from data tabled during state assembly sittings in 2015 and 2016. The remainder came from the public, which were then cross-checked, collated and submitted in a series of four reports to the state authorities.

“In our latest report, we sought feedback from the state authorities for 16 new cases which were observed between October 2017 and August 2018,” Rexy told The Malaysian Insight.

“We also wanted to follow up on cases reported in the previous September 2017 report,” said the avid hiker who is an engineer by profession.

However, apart from a “thank you” note, the group did not hear much from the local authorities about its request for feedback.

“This is the challenge with our local authorities. They work in silos. There is no teamwork between the departments. They also fail to see the full picture,” he said.

Listen to the people

Rexy said the state government should listen and take note of the citizens’ proactive initiatives, as the public were important stakeholders in the development of the state.

The state government must impose a moratorium on hillside developments until it has monitored and enforced all the necessary legal and environment requirements, he said.

Activists accuse the state government of repeatedly ignoring their calls for public investigations and alerts on hill-clearing activities.

Another Penang Forum representative, Lim Mah Hui, said the Penang Island City Council – as the owner of the project in Bukit Kukus – does not have the institutional capacity to monitor and assess the necessary safety measure that should be observed by contractors.

“Hence, if it still insists on going ahead with the highway project, it would be highly irresponsible to do so,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

There is a need to get an independent assessment to ascertain whether the Bukit Kukus highway project can proceed or not, he said.

In its report, PHW said its monitoring at the Bukit Kukus location referred to approved earth works and pointed out extensive slope-cutting.

It said Google Earth images from August 2017 to February 2018 showed “even more extensive hill clearing and exposed slopes for the construction of the Paya Terubong paired road, without any mitigation measures to prevent soil erosion”.

“This site had been a major contributor of eroded soil being washed away with heavy rainfall runoff causing flooding of mud-laden waters all the way down the Sungai Dondang-Sungai Air Itam-Sungai Pinang rivers on November 4 and 5, 2017,” it added in its report.

Malaysian Nature Society vice-president Eric R. Sinnaya warned that Penang stands to face more disasters if the state government continues to ignore environmental issues.

“You can’t simply abuse the environment, more so when it’s an island. I fear we have crossed the line,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

The state government should start working with civil society to avoid more fatal disaster which is just waiting to happen if rampant development continues. – October 29, 2018.