RAUB, March 17 — The Magistrate’s Court today issued an absolute order prohibiting felling of trees and clearing of new area at Lot 874 Jalan Tras, near the Hulu Teranum Forest Reserve here.
Magistrate Mohamad Ibrahim Mohamad Ghulam made the order after allowing an application by Association for the Protection of Natural Heritage of Malaysia (Peka) president Puan Sri Shariffa Sabrina Syed Akil.
In the application, she named YRQ Plantation Trading and chairman of Kampung Sungai Delam Group Replanting Committee Zulkifli Sulaiman as respondents.
However, both the respondents, or their representatives, were not in court today.
Lawyer Siti Zabedah Kassim, representing Shariffa Sabrina, when met outside the court, said none of the respondents, or their lawyer, ever attended proceedings of the case, despite a copy of the application having served to them.
Earlier during the proceeding, Siti Zabedah submitted an affidavit by a lecturer at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Prof Maketab Mohamed, on a water quality research which found that Sungai Delam could lose its Class 1 river classification if clearing works in the area were not stopped.
She also produced an affidavit on survey works by a registered surveyor, Khairon Abdul Ghani, that earth works in the area could cause pollution of the rivers there.
Meanwhile, Shariffa Sabrina, when met by reporters, said she hoped all quarters would abide by the order to maintain the eco-system there.
“The application was made not for personal interests, but for the sake of residents in Raub.
“We do not have many more natural heritage or eco-tourism areas. So, what we have now should be preserved. Sungai Delam is the one and only Class 1 river that still exists in Raub,” she added.
Shariffa Sabrina filed the application last Jan 16, seeking a court order
under Section 89 of the Criminal Procedure Code to stop the nuisance due to tree
felling and land clearing near the Tanah Aina Farrah Soraya eco-resort.
In her affidavit, she claimed the affected land lot is near a Group Rubber Planting project, covering 150 hectares, in the Sungai Delam Orang Asli settlement in Mukim Tras.
She said the nuisance caused by the felling of trees and land clearing resulted in mud flood, flash flood, over-flowing of river water and soil erosion, hence would jeopardize the safety of residents and tourist, as well as caused damage to land structure and landscape.
The tree felling land clearing would also cause pollution of the rivers in the area, hence causing certain species of fish to become extinct, and also damaged the environment, she added.
Shariffa Sabrina said she had lodged a protest with the Raub Land and District Office on May 27, 2016, as well as police reports, on May 30 and Dec 23 last year, on the matter.
She also sent a notice of demand to stop the tree cutting and land clearing to the District Office, Orang Asli Development Department, Risda, Forestry Department and the Drainage and Irrigation Department, but no action was taken. — Bernama
