2.

0 Are issues on corruption and enforcement the main reasons that contribute to
such unfortunate incidents?
It is known as the main reasons that contribute to such incidents are corruption and
bad law enforcement. It is a well-known example that the mudflow and landslide
tragedy actually mirrors the hman greed for profit, corruption and illegal
exploitation of land. According to Malay Mail online on November 8 th, the Geology
lecturer of UKM, Assoc Prof Dr Tajul Anuar Jamaluddin informed that the greediness
of settlers in clearing hilly areas to be turned into new vegetable farms would also
cause soil degradation that could lead to landslides. During heavy rains, the soil in
the cleared hilly areas can erode and the existing dam is no longer capable of
containing large quantity of water, and this situation will cause major floods, he
informed to Malay Mail. Reported in The Sun Daily, Pahang Menteri Besar, Datuk
Seri Adnan Yaakob said the mud floods which hit Ringlet town and Bertam Valley
were due to activities against the environment in which are excessive illegal land
clearing.
As per reported by Utusan Malaysia that at present there are 7,528 hectares
currently being used legally for agriculture. Yet it is not the fault of the farmers as
well. There were farmers who have inherited the farming business and there are
also new farmers. From where does the new farmers that does illegal deforestation
for the cultivation of vegetables come, well clearly known it is the governments
fault. Problems such as soil erosion and landslides are the governments concern,
they should think about that when they approve the clearing of land for farming
activities, written in Malay Mail online.
Datuk Syed Abdul Rahman, Cameron Highlands Malay Farmers Association
chairman, said to Malay Mail reporters, that farmers registered under the
associations are old timers who have been farming in the area since the 1980s and
early 1990s.He also argued that farming activities are big business because of the
huge demand, pointing out Malaysias huge import of fruits and vegetables. We
feel that all the illegal farms are the root cause of all these problems. We have
raised this issue many times but nobody seems to care, Syed said, adding that
they were also informed by state officials that there is a lack of enforcement
personnel to monitor the situation on the highlands. Again it states that the poor
law enforcement and corruption leads to this problem.
Law enforcement needed to tackle the issue.
Stated in The Sun Daily by reporter P. Chandra Sagaran, the state government and
the Town and Country Planning Department has launched the Cameron Highlands
District Local Draft Plan to tackle illegal land clearing activities in Cameron
Highlands. The draft of the local plan which encompasses various aspects including
sustainable highland tourism and sustainable agriculture management will replace
two previous local plans which expired (1998-2010) and (2003-2015). The other part
of the draft will be setting up the Cameron Highlands Sustainable Development
Board in which re-activating the Pahang Highland Land Development Committee
and also the formation of the Tragedy Risk Management Unit. Pahang Sultan have
claimed that Authorities have to go after the greedy and corrupt. They cannot live in

denial that rampant corruption is not taking place. Otherwise, why is the Malaysian
Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) moving in now? The authorities must also not
be afraid to act, just because "big fishes" may be involved. You are answerable to
the people and not these fishes. By covering their tracks, it makes you equally
guilty as well.

Case related to similar issue

Kelantan floods that occurs in the same year, 2014 is also a part of illegal logging as
well. 117 families were affected in the incident that occurs. According to Salor
assemblyperson Husam Musa, "The department has its own foresters stationed in
the forest. If people have stolen up to 20,000 acres, these officers should be aware
of it much earlier than that. If secret passage was the excuse they have given, no
matter how secret the passage is, someone would have noticed, whether they
cleared were 5,000 acres or 20,000 acres." It was stated in Jan 3 rd 2015, the senior
lecturer at the Earth Sciences Faculty of Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), Dr
Zulhazman Hamzah, said among the causes of the mud flood was the large scale
deforestation of the hilly regions in Ulu Kelantan. Those illegal logging syndicates
used the names of the Sultan of Kelantan and members of his royal families to trick
people into buying the land, which they claimed would be turned into rubber and oil
palm plantations, as well as banana farms. Husam, who was also a former PAS vicepresident informed that "What happens in Kelantan is a total cutting down of trees
solely for commercial purposes in which, trees that were still relatively young and
did not meet the right specifications were also cut. In fact, it is among the most
rampant in peninsular Malaysia now."
A study was done in order to promote better cooperation and working relationship
between authorities like the state government, local council, forestry department,
JAKOA and Department of Environment which must all come together with the same
purpose of ensuring the best for the state, environment and affected communities.

References
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4.

http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1268720
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1628931
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1758809
http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/stop-land-clearing-orrisk-bigger-floods-in-cameron-highlands-expert-warns
5. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/cameron-highlands-thetale-of-a-disappearing-hill
6. http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/pahang-sultan-same-page-people?d=1
7. http://www.c4center.org/sites/default/files/KT%20Final%20final.pdf