00:00Music
00:10Hello and good evening, I'm Melissa Idris. Welcome to Consider This.
00:14This is the show where we want you to consider and then reconsider what you know of the news of
00:18the day.
00:19Since 2025, four states have rejected key safeguards under the amendments to the National Forestry Act
00:27that would require a public inquiry before any forest reserves are degazetted
00:32as well as the simultaneous replacement of the land.
00:36Now together, the states account for about 70% of Peninsula Malaysia's gazetted forest reserves.
00:42So what happens when decisions around public accountability to remove forest protections
00:51can be made without a public inquiry, without public participation?
00:55And who should really have a say when forest reserves are degazetted?
01:00Well, joining me on the show today to discuss this further, we have Meena Rahman,
01:04who is the President of Sabat Alam Malaysia,
01:06and Lau Yahuwa, who is a journalist and founder of the Fates of Our Forest Dashboard,
01:14which tracks changes in forest reserves in Peninsula Malaysia.
01:18I'm delighted to have both of you here. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much.
01:21Meena, if I may begin with you, let's talk a little bit about what has changed
01:25and the kind of slow changes in the different state legislations.
01:31What are your main concerns around the recent developments,
01:34particularly with the Pahang State Government?
01:36Maybe just to set the context, in 2022,
01:40when the federal government announced changes to the National Forestry Act,
01:44many of us welcomed it, because two of the very important amendments
01:49that we were looking forward to, one, the public inquiry,
01:54before you degazette any permanent forest reserve,
01:59that there will be a public inquiry, which means that public can participate,
02:04give our objections, and that was supposed to be a mandatory requirement
02:08for public inquiries.
02:09The second was, of course, if you degazette a permanent forest reserve,
02:14then you have to replace it with an equal or larger amount,
02:18and the quality also has to be ensured in terms of the replacement.
02:23Now, these were two very big amendments
02:26that not only SAM, Sabadala Malaysia,
02:30but other environmental groups and, you know, all welcomed.
02:33And this was actually through the National Land Council,
02:38where you have all the mandatory bazaars who sit at the National Land Council.
02:42I understand at one time there was also the National Forestry Council.
02:46So, as you know, forests and land are in the jurisdiction of the states.
02:52But the National Land Council and the National Forestry Council at that time
02:56tried to ensure that there is uniformity of application.
02:59So, we looked forward to it.
03:01So, we were hoping, and of course, the law says
03:03that the amendments can only come into force
03:07when the states adopt them.
03:09So, to our gross disappointment,
03:12this is what we are hearing,
03:14and we actually have seen
03:16that states like Klantan and Perak and Pahang and Negri Sambilan,
03:21they had some amendments that they had followed
03:25but related to fines and other offences.
03:28But they did not include these two amendments
03:30which were so major that we welcomed.
03:33So, it was an utter disappointment.
03:35And they are still
