Muhyiddin: Gazetted park and sultanate park are not the same

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin pointed out today that there is a difference between Pulau Kukup remaining as a gazetted national park and it being reclassified as sultanate land.

Muhyiddin said the Johor State Park Enactment was created when he was the state menteri besar between 1986 and 1995, during which all state parks were gazetted in order to preserve them.

“There was a decision from higher-ups that said we will make it as a national park, but the difference between what I did then and what is happening now is that land has been transferred as a sultanate land, so there is a slight difference in that status.

“It could have remained as a national park without being degazetted. It served that purpose already," he said at a press conference at the Bersatu headquarters in Petaling Jaya.

“But to transfer it as a sultanate land, then the status has slightly changed. 

"As much as they say they are going to do everything to maintain it as a national park, but the ownership has changed,” he added.

Muhyiddin said that he would rather appeal to the Johor sultan to maintain Pulau Kukup’s gazetted status as a national park, especially since he, as a Johorean, was not an "outsider."

The Pagoh MP said if Pulau Kukup goes back to being a gazetted national park, then anyone can enter it without the need for authorisation. 

The former arrangement, where the island remains gazetted as a national park, was a better system to maintain the island, he added.

"There was no issue before. Nobody had heard of Pulau Kukup because it has been managed well as a protected park.

"Whatever it is, this is my personal view and I think as a Johorean, I am not an outsider," Muhyiddin said.

It has been reported that the previous BN state government had de-gazetted Pulau Kukup as a national park for it to be reclassified as sultanate land.

This means Pulau Kukup will lose its legal status as a national park and its status will be at the pleasure of the Johor ruler who owns sultanate land.

'A beautiful island'

Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar has issued a statement saying that the cabinet had decided that the island should remain as a national park.

Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim then rapped Jayakumar, saying that "outsiders" should not interfere in Johor's affairs.

At today's press conference, Muhyiddin also explained that he created the Johor state park enactment to ensure that such parks were preserved under the Johor Land Corporation.

"So when I hear about it being de-gazetted, I am angry, for whatever the reason (to de-gazette it)," he said.

Pulau Kukup, he said, is one of the most beautiful islands and should be maintained as such.

"It is a mangrove swamp and one of the largest in the world (to be put under such a gazette). We should be proud of that," he said.

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The ripples from the Pulau Kukup fiasco

Federal gov't not an 'outsider', has a say on Pulau Kukup - Dr M

Don't meddle with Pulau Kukup, TMJ tells 'outsider' Xavier