PULAU Kukup will remain a national park despite it being degazetted as one by the Johor government to become “sultanate land”.

This was decreed by Sultan of Johor Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar to the Johor Land and Mines Department.

“The sultan has consented that Pulau Kukup, which has been placed under the Sultanate Land Enactment, remains to be used as the Johor National Park, and has to be maintained and supervised by the Johor state government,” said the sultan’s private secretary Jaba Mohd Noah in a letter to the department director.

In the letter dated December 5, Jaba also said the island would be managed by the Johor National Park to turn it into a “tourism product” for the state.

A copy of the letter was shared by Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim on his social media.

The status of Pulau Kukup became hot news after the state government degazetted the island as a national park during a state executive committee meeting on September 24.

The gazette on the decision was published on October 25.

Following criticism from various parties, Tunku Ismail said Pulau Kukup, the world’s second largest uninhabited mangrove island, was degazetted from a being fully protected national park to become crown land so that it would be “better protected”.

“In the past, several national parks were privatised. But in Johor, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim has a different vision.

“To better protect all national parks, Sultan Ibrahim decreed that all the national parks be changed to Sultanate land,” he had tweeted.

Currently, Johor has six national parks including Endau-Rompin Peta, Endau-Rompin Selai, Tanjung Piai, Pulau Kukup, Gunung Ledang, and Sultan Iskandar Marine Park.

Pulau Kukup measures approximately 647ha and is surrounded by some 800ha of mudflats.

The uninhabited island was gazetted 21 years ago and touted as one of the world’s protected wetlands. – December 6, 2018.