Penang Forum, a coalition of 14 NGOs focused on defending the environment, has received a report from the local council that there are 12 cases of land clearance in the state which was “not officially approved”.

In a media statement today, its steering committee said, of the 12 cases, seven occurred on private land, including a former quarry site.

The NGO said "stop work" orders have been issued for all seven cases and legal action is being taken on three, including the former quarry site. 

For the other four cases, the owners have been issued restoration orders, said Penang Forum.

“The remaining five cases have been identified as occurring on state land, whereby the Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has referred to the relevant government agencies for follow-up action,” Penang Forum said.

“It is obvious from the MBPP response that other government agencies with particular jurisdiction over state-owned land would need to be actively engaged in this continuing endeavor to minimise the adverse impact of hill land-clearing activities,” the NGO added.

The 12 cases were reported to the Penang government on April 3 as part of the NGO’s “Penang Hills Watch” initiative, which was launched in October last year.

On May 4 this year, the NGO members met with state executive councillor on local government, traffic management and flood mitigation Chow Kon Yeow, MBPP director of engineering Addnan Mohd Razali and state forestry department director Rusli Tahir to seek clarification on the reported cases.

During the session, Rusli told the NGO about the department’s forest monitoring using remote sensing (FMRS), which combines the use of high-resolution satellite imagery, cameras mounted on drones and computerised mapping with geographical information system (GIS) for surveillance and detection of clearing activities within the state’s forests.

Penang Forum lauded the state forestry department’s effort in monitoring through remote sensing.

However, the NGO preferred to conduct remote monitoring, including field observations that the Penang Hills Watch project has been set up to report.

“This is where clearing activities are not so clearly detectable from the air,” said the NGO.

Penang Forum said it received on Jul 25, a written response from MBPP that provides details of the 12 cases of land-clearing.

The NGO said the specific lot numbers where the activities were observed were identified, as well as the status and action undertaken by the MBPP.

The NGO has updated the status of the land clearing in the Penang Hills Watch portal and can be accessed online

"We hope that in future meetings, which Chow plans to convene, there would be a wider representation of the relevant agencies to address the issue," the NGO added.