THE degazettement of the Bukit Cerakah Forest Reserve (BCFR) on May 5 was to complete a process pending since 2006, the Selangor Forestry Department said.

In a statement, state forestry director Ahmad Fadzil Abdul Majid said the issues surrounding the forest reserve have been unresolved for more than 20 years and the Selangor government had taken appropriate steps to solve them.

“This action also takes into account the importance of environmental sustainability in Selangor in line with the aspiration of being a smart, liveable and prosperous state,” said Fadzil.

Shah Alam Community Forest (SACF) had previously questioned the Selangor government’s move to degazette 406.2ha of BCFR without going through the full procedure of a public hearing.

SACF honorary treasurer Dr Teckwyn Lim had said the degazettement contravened Selangor forestry laws, which state that a public hearing must precede a degazettement, and that the state government had “excised” a big chunk of BCFR on May 5.

Lim urged the Selangor government to amend its forestry laws so that the degazetting of forest reserves requires the approval of the state assembly.

The University of Nottingham academic said this would have prevented a development project purportedly involving part of the Bukit Cherakah forest reserve.

Speaking further, Fadzil said the degazettement of BCFR had not gone through a public hearing process in accordance with section 11, Selangor Forestry Act (Adoption) Enactment 1985.

According to Fadzil, the state had amended the enactment in 2011. 

“The Selangor Forestry Department would like to clarify that the degazettement of the Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve on May 5, was to complete the degazettement process, which stopped around 2006.

“According to section 13 of the Selangor Forestry Act (Adoption) Enactment 1985, the state authority must make it known of any area in permanent forest reserves that have been degazetted,” he said.

He then revealed that a series of degazettements of BCFR had occurred between 1991 and 2006, including an area of 406.22ha.

“Various possibilities could have been factors that resulted in the degazettement of the area depending on the production stage of the gazettement plan, namely PW1443,” he said. – July 10, 2022.