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©The Star (Used by permission)
by Ong Eu Lin

PETALING JAYA: The Kedah Government has no right to cut down trees near the Ulu Muda River Reserve as water catchment areas fall under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act 1959, the Malaysian Bar Council said.

Environmental Law Sub-Committee chairman Roger Tan said that while all forest produce on state land were the property of the state government, most states had laws against polluting water catchment areas.

“The reason for this is because the management of water catchment areas will affect the quality and quantity of water,” he said in a statement.

He added that deforestation would cause irreversible ecological damage that would cause soil pollution especially near the Muda Dam.

“Deforestation hastens soil erosion which in turns affects water quality. This then results in higher cost of water treatment,” he said.

Tan added that trees were important for the protection of water catchment, carbon balance, evapo-transpiration, photosynthesis and production of wood.

“It is disappointing to learn that a state government is willing to sacrifice the environment all in the name of development,” he said.

Gerakan is also against Kedah's decision to cut down trees for profit.

“I had objected strongly against a similar move by the Kedah Government in 2002-2003,” party acting president and former Penang Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said in a statement.

He added that he had approached then Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and then Primary Industries Minister Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik to seek their assistance.

“I had stressed on the importance of the water catchment area to Kedah, Penang and Perlis to the present and future generations,” Dr Koh said.

He said this led to Kedah, which was then governed by the Barisan Nasional, to relent and drop the logging proposal.

Dr Koh urged Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng to convince his PAS counterpart in Kedah to abandon the logging plan, adding that Lim should get Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to assist him.

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