Perak environmentalists hope Saarani will work to protect the environment

IPOH: Environmentalists in Perak hope that Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad will stop any activities that can harm forest reserves in the state.

Aktivis Sahabat Alam (Kuasa) president Hafizudin Nazarudin said he is hopeful that Saarani will find new sources instead of exploiting the environment to boost the state‘s economy.

“Take a look at Sabah, the state gained a total revenue of RM7.2bil annually from their tourism industry. It is possible for the Perak government to find other sources, rather than just exploiting and destroying the forests we have here," he said.Hafizudin said in a statement on Friday (Dec 11) that he is rather concerned, based on Saarani's previous statements in support of monoculture plantation.

“When he was in the Opposition during the Pakatan Harapan administration, Saarani questioned the government about the ongoing monoculture plantations. However, he previously had supported monoculture plantation when he was the plantation exco member," he said.

Hafizudin also said that the state should set up an environmental committee.“The committee must be represented by those from the state government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), experts and academicians as well as the community, ” he said.

Appointed as the 14th Mentri Besar on Thursday (Dec 10), Saarani was previously the Perak plantation exco member between 2006 and 2018.

Meanwhile, Sahabat Alam Malaysia field officer Meor Razak Meor Abdul Rahman said that he is worried as Saarani had not made any statement regarding the conservation and preservation of forests, even in his constituency in Kota Tampan near Lenggong.

“There are several ongoing environmental issues in the state. For example, the monoculture plantation in the Piah Forest Reserve.

We hope the matter will come to his attention and he will cancel the project completely instead of looking for other forest reserves," said Meor Razak.

He added that Saarani must also take drastic action against encroachment into forest reserves and must not approve any more monoculture plantation projects in the state regardless of the owner of the land.