THE Pahang Forestry Department should investigate licensed logging concessions to see if they contributed to devastating mud and log slides that destroyed many homes in Bentong and Karak earlier this month, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy said.

The DAP assemblyman for Perai asked why the department was quick to deny the existence of illegal logging, without even addressing whether legal logging could have caused the destruction.

“The department should not be entrapped by the denial syndrome. Rather than engaging in a thorough investigation, it merely denies the existence of illegal logging.

“It is not so much about illegal logging, but licensed activities that have contributed to the devastation of forests of Pahang,” Ramasamy said in a statement.

Ramasamy – who visited the area recently to view the destruction of homes in the Telemong River area – said the Pahang government must address the massive flooding of December 18 and 19.

“It should investigate those companies involved in widescale logging across the state.

“Unless states like Pahang (rein in) licensed and unlicensed (logging), future floods will be much more devastating.”

Ramasamy also said he saw two badly affected areas during his visit to Karak and Bentong.

“It was clear the rivers in the area were unable to hold the flood waters, causing massive devastation, debris (everywhere), uprooted trees, bushes and left-over timber from logging areas.

“At Sri Temelong Bridge, it was abundantly clear that long years of logging and other forms of deforestation were the main cause of the floods.

“The vegetation in the jungles was unable to absorb water leading rivers and their tributaries bursting their banks.”

He slammed the department for not being honest about the cause of the floods.

Two days ago, the department said there was no logging in Lentang Forest Reserve based on aerial checks using drones.

It said the timber that destroyed areas along Jalan Bentong-Karak and Sri Telemong Bridge was debris brought down by a water surge (kepala air), caused by heavy rain over that weekend.

Ramasamy said he was not disputing the fact that continuous rain for three days added to the volume and intensity of the floods, but it was obvious from the debris at Sri Temelong Bridge that there was left-over and abandoned timber.

“The department cannot dismiss the flood waters that brought materials from the upper stretches of the river was just debris or wood waste.

“I was not talking about illegal logging… I was talking about legal logging in the upper stretches of the rivers.

“Surely the department must have information about logging, both legal and illegal.

“Is the department going to take action against those involved in the felling of the trees that might contributed to the floods?” Ramasamy asked. – December 31, 2021.