PEOPLE are being misled about the cause of the Baling floods. It is being claimed that “kepala air” or “headwaters” are the cause. This is far from the truth as headwaters are where rivers begin in the hills or mountains. 

Naturally, when there is heavy or prolonged rainfall at headwaters, some of the water does not get absorbed into the ground as quickly as during normal rainfall. The excess water goes directly into the rivers, causing the levels to rise quickly and flow downstream at great speed and pressure. 

People living in the hinterlands are well aware of how the rivers rise when there is heavy or prolonged rainfall in the upper reaches of the rivers. They never build their houses near or below the highest level of rivers during the so-called “kepala air” phenomenon. This is like the high-tide mark of the sea at any given point. No sane person will build a house on the ground below or close to the high-tide mark.

The houses that were washed away by the Baling floods were all above the highest mark of the river level and had stood there for years, decades or even longer without the gushing waters reaching them. When the forest in the heavy rainfall area upstream is intact, the gushing water is as clean as drinking water.

But what happened in Baling was a mudflow, albeit somewhat diluted mud. And the amount of water and mud that came gushing down was many, many times of the normal “kepala air”. Water levels went way above the normal highest-level mark and caused all the devastation.

The direct cause of the flood was the thousands of acres of barren or naked land, exposed directly to rainfall that loosened the soil and carried it down with the high run-off volume. The massive quantity of water flowing downhill at speed swept everything in its way. 

Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) was therefore right to call out the Kedah menteri besar for misleading the people about “kepala air” being the cause of the floods. “Kepala air” happens elsewhere also, and must have been happening in Baling for ages, i.e. during heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of the rivers. Why didn’t such floods happen in the past?

The authorities should stop making fools of the public to cover up for their wrongdoings. The massive clearing of the hills was driven by greed. Did any Environmental Impact Assessment consultant say that such widespread balding of the hills will not cause erosion by rains and massive amounts of water to flow downstream and breach all the previous high-water level marks of the rivers?

Innocent lives were lost in the floods. Why should those deaths be not classified as murder by those who approved the deforestation and those who did the deforestation? Is the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission going to investigate abuses of power in granting approvals that resulted in the deaths?

The authorities and the rich behind such projects always get away with murder, and in this case, actual deaths.

Similar Baling floods are going to continue for years to come as every square foot of the barren hills cannot be covered with foliage of any kind in a short period of time. How is the government going to prevent similar floods if it cannot stop the rains beating down on the naked soil and washing it down in torrents of water? 

* Ravinder Singh reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.