Jimmy Chiang - a resident of the Haven Lakeside Residences - is anxious that he is fast losing part of the land that was once gazetted as forest reserve.

Although the secretary of the posh Tambun condominium’s joint management committee is grateful that his MP, Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah, had acted on residents’ complaints and promised to arrange for a meeting with Ipoh City Mayor Zamri Man, it is not happening fast enough.

While waiting, they are losing inch by inch of their forest reserve, because the land clearing activity is progressing at a fast pace. They have seen how another developer had wanted to build a multi-storey project adjacent to their property, until residents carried out their own investigation and applied for court injunction.

Based on the Ipoh City Masterplan 2012, the land was meant for public utilities.

Work on the project had since halted and the matter is awaiting trial, but they have to scurry all over again to protect their forest reserve. For them, the state government under present Menteri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir ( photo ), appears to be oblivious to their complaints.

Earlier, Perak DAP whip Ngeh Koo Ham said that he, too, has highlighted the people’s concerns to Zambry. Ngeh added that he hopes the MB would at least make an official visit to the area to check out the people’s complaints, especially since Hulu Kinta is also under Umno.

‘It was gazetted as forest reserve land’

Chiang said that when he first bought the property, he had studied the Ipoh city masterplan. “This (the portion of land behind his condominium) was supposed to be a forest reserve,” he said. “To de-gazette, it would involve a lot of processes which include getting the approval from the state assembly.”

This is why Chiang ( photo ) was shocked when he heard rumours that part of the forest reserve had been cleared for a school. “Care has to be taken to ensure that land gazetted as forest reserve should be kept as such,” he said, adding that residents have raised the concern to Malaysiakini because they have lost confidence in both the City Hall and the state government to protect their interests.

On Dec 15, Husni - who is also the second finance minister - said that he would look into the complaints and arrange for a meeting between the residents and the mayor. However, the committee took time to revert to Husni, as they had a fresh election to pick a new committee in December.

“Now that the committee has been formalised, we hope to get to work as soon as possible before we lose our forest reserve,” Chiang said.

Meanwhile, Alex Ma - a Permai Lakeview Apartment resident - echoed Chiang’s unhappy sentiments with the land clearing activities in the area.

“We are aware that the land beside Permai is meant for housing development. With that, we have no problem, because it is already in the masterplan and we knew about it when we bought our property, but the land that was supposed to be a forest reserve, are we also losing it?” he asked.

The secretary of Permai Lakeview Apartment’s joint management committee said once the forest reserve is cleared, it will be gone forever. “Along with it is the flora and fauna, and the ecology of the area,” he noted.

Ma ( photo ) urged the MB’s office - and particularly Zambry himself - to be more people-friendly. “It is too late if we have lost the forest reserve,” he lamented.

On Dec 15, another resident Steve Oh had met up with Hulu Kinta state assemblyperson Aminuddin Md Hanafiah over the same concerns. However, Aminuddin claimed that the “original area was earmarked for development much earlier,” and left it at that.

Much to Oh’s disappointment, Aminuddin did not pursue the matter further. Furthermore, Zamri and Zambry have yet to respond to earlier complaints raised by the residents either.

To date, the residents are still hoping that the meeting between them and the mayor would happen soon.