PETALING JAYA: The floods in Baling were a “ticking time bomb” which could have been due to development on Gunung Inas despite authorities saying otherwise, say environmental groups.
Association for the Protection of Natural Heritage of Malaysia president Damien Thanam Divean questioned if the Kedah government had constantly monitored the mountain slopes after a stop-work order was issued to a durian plantation in 2020 as claimed.
“Is it possible that the plantation owner did not follow the guidelines? Was the area rehabilitated and its slopes secured and constantly monitored?
“Peka visited the site and demanded that this project not be approved on Gunung Inas as we were sure of such disasters taking place ... it was a ticking time bomb,” he said.
Damien added that the cooling-off period for planting activities taking place after the forest was logged was also unknown.
The situation was a potential trigger for floods to happen during heavy rain, he said.
“This unknown condition of 2,000 acres (800ha) could be the trigger that caused the flooding if it is upstream from the villages that were hit by the destructive column of water,” he added.
Sahabat Alam Malaysia president Meenakshi Raman urged the Kedah government to set up a public commission of inquiry to get to the root of the disaster.
She added that it should stop blaming natural phenomena.
“The ‘water-head’ (water surge) cannot be a convenient excuse when we see pictures of large numbers of trees and logs washed down with the gushing of silt-laden water.
“Also, there is a video circulating widely on social media which shows a company promoting its Musang King durian plantations in the Gunung Inas area, involving the massive clearing of forests,” she said.
She was referring to a 2020 video of a man claiming the area on Gunung Inas was cleared to make way for the plantation. The video went viral again following the floods.
She added that replanting of 5,000 trees as claimed by Energy and Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan only involved a small area in comparison to the entire 52ha plot.
Malaysia Nature Society president Prof Dr Ahmad Ismail said the state government had been alerted by local environmental NGOs on its logging and land clearing activities for durian plantations years ago.
“Many years ago, they were alerted when local NGOs commented on logging and later, on land clearing for durian (plantation) and the issue of flood risks. (We were) just waiting for time. With heavy rain, we can see the results,” he added.
