| Home > South-East Asia >> Malaysia | |
Stop the destruction, gazette the Damansara City forest
Malaysian Socialist Party - April 1, 2008
Damansara City – Dr. Nasir the socialist ADUN for Kota Damansara moved to fulfill his election pledge to safeguard the Kota Damansara (Sg. Buloh) Forest Reserve. During the election campaign, Dr. Nasir and Sivarasa, Subang Parliament member signed the pledge to safeguard the forest from further destruction.
Accompanied by Friends of Kota Damansara, FOKD and Malaysian Nature Society MNS, Dr. Nasir led the delegation to have talks with the newly appointed Exco in charge of Environmental affairs, Elizabeth Wong.
Dr. Nasir stressed that, the Exco have to ensure that the remaining 600 acres of the forest should not be encroached on further in the name of development. As far back as 1898, the colonial government gazetted an area of 6,590 ha. This forest is the oldest gazetted forest in Peninsula Malaysia.
Since its first clearing in 1988 for the construction of North-South Highway, the forest has been slowly ruined by various development projects. In 1992, 1600 ha was given to PKNS for Kota Damansara township development. The Kota Damansara township was launched with the theme of 'Living in Harmony with the Environment'. If the pace of developments continues, there will be no more green lung for the nearby residents.
Currently 50 acres of the forest has been earmarked for a Muslim cemetery and land works have already begun rapidly. " Besides the cemetery project, we want to ensure that the rest of the forest is preserved and remains gazetted as a State national park. This will ensure that no other development projects will be proposed in the future", stressed Dr. Nasir.
Elizabeth Wong, the State Exco holding the Environment portfolio, assured the delegation that she will immediately call for a meeting with MBPJ for a report on the proposed and ongoing projects at the site. Elizabeth promised to look into measures to gazette the forest permanently.
It would be a great task to undo the blunders and destruction of the Barisan led capitalist government in Selangor. Capitalism is determined primarily by production for private profit. Under the private profit system the Earth itself becomes "an object of huckstering" (Engels): the fertility of the soil and the vitality of the labourer are equally sacrificed to capital's "werewolf hunger for surplus value".
Sivarajan
PSM
Damansara
City
See also:
 |