TMJ: Why politicise Pulau Kukup’s national park status?

PETALING JAYA: Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Ibni Sultan Ibrahim (pic) says he does not understand why the status of Pulau Kukup as a national park is being “politicised”.

“I do not understand why this issue has to be blown up and politicised as land matters are the prerogative of state government," he tweeted late on Wednesday nights (Dec 5).

“I am confident that any decision by Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar and the Johor government was in the best interest and sovereignty of Johor.”

He was replying to Twitter user @TheDukeofKL, who told him to claim Malaysia’s victory over Thailand in the AFF Suzuki Cup match, just like how he claimed Pulau Kukup.

Tunku Ismail also tweeted a letter on Thursday (Dec 6), which bears the signature of Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, where it states the status of Pulau Kukup as a national park.

The letter, dated Dec 5, reads that Sultan Ibrahim agreed that the position of Pulau Kukup, in Pontian, south Johor, falls under the Sultanate Land Enactment.

The letter also reads that the island will continue to be used as a state national park where it must be guarded and regulated by the state government through the Johor National Parks Corporation to become the state tourism product.

Tunku Ismail said it was the planning and vision of Sultan Ibrahim where Pulau Kukup will be similar to the Sultan Iskandar Marine Park off Mersing in eastern Johor.

On Wednesday (Dec 5), Tunku Ismail said Pulau Kukup will become Sultanate land after the Johor state government has degazetted it as a national park.

He had claimed that the island, one of the few pristine wetlands in South-East Asia, will be "better protected" after its status is changed from national park to Sultanate land.

Tunku Ismail added that this was practised in the United Kingdom, where all the parks belong to the Crown.

“However, this does not change the status, policies, and usage of the park, where it continues to remain a national park,” he said.

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

Concerns were sparked by a gazette dated Oct 25, that had gone viral on social media, notifying that the state authorities will cancel the whole area as a national park under subsection 3(3) of the National Park Environment Enactment (Johor) 1989.

Lawyers for Liberty had asked why the stripping of the national park status was done "silently", without any public announcement, until the gazette was leaked online.

The group's advisor, N. Surendran, noted that the island was originally gazetted as a national park in 1997 by the then Barisan state government.

Pulau Kukup is renowned as the world's second largest uninhabited mangrove island.

It is one of Malaysia's five Ramsar sites - wetlands of international importance under the United Nations’ Convention on Wetlands.

According to the Johor National Parks Corporation website, Pulau Kukup has several endangered animals such as the flying fox, bearded pig and smooth-coated otter.