FOREST reserve or not, a golf resort should not be built in a mangrove area, the Association for the Preservation of Natural Heritage (PEKA) said.

“It does not matter whether it falls within a forest reserve or not. The impact of such a project is important,” PEKA said in response to reports that the Forest City Golf Resort was being constructed in Sg Pulai, Johor, once a mangrove forest.

The area was listed as a critical swamp under the Ramsar Convention in 2003.

PEKA said state authorities and developers should abide by the “precautionary principle” and be more prudent in decisions involving natural resources.

It said the preservation of mangrove forests was important as they played a role in protecting the coastline. This function, PEKA said, was especially seen in the 2004 tsunami.

“The importance of mangrove forests was highly publicised during the 2004 tsunami, prompting large-scale efforts to protect and restore mangroves in the region,” it said.

“The Sg Pulai mangrove area is also an essential habitat and nursery for various species of fauna.

“It, therefore, defies logic to gazette mangrove areas such as Sg Pulai as commercial land, especially to go on and convert it into a golf course.”

It was reported that a golf resort will be constructed on more than 1,200ha of land for three world-class 18-hole courses and a five-star hotel.

Malaysiakini reported that more than 8,000ha of mangrove swamp around the Pulai river – almost twice the size of Putrajaya – had been gazetted as reserve land in 1962.

However, the land’s status has been changed over the years, and Johor state executive councillor Tan Hong Pin had said it was no longer an issue as the status of the land as a reserve had been lifted two years ago.

Tan said the decision was made under the previous Barisan Nasional-led Johor government, and the felling of the mangrove forests began in 2017.

“There are no more mangroves there; all the trees have been felled and the place is now a golf resort. This issue is from two years ago and had been reported then,” Tan told The Malaysian Insight.

Malaysiakini reported that the land had been classified as “development land” as of January last year, although work on the golf course had begun in July the previous year.

The resort’s developer, Country Garden Forest City, has kept mum on whether Forest City or the state government owns the land.

Country Garden strategy head Ng Zhu Hann said Forest City had acquired the land legally, and has an industrial and commercial title for it.

However, PEKA said Johor’s Department of Environment (DoE) had failed in its duty to protect and conserve an important wetland.

“We are shocked that the state DoE tasked with ensuring conservation of the environment failed to halt such desecration of the mangrove site.  

“To our mind, this is a serious case of malfeasance.” – February 15, 2019.