SHAH ALAM: Setia Alam residents have called on the Selangor government to preserve a forest area in Shah Alam for the benefit of the surrounding community.
The Shah Alam Community Forest (SACF) Society, along with the Environmental Heritage Protectors Association (Peka), is proposing that the Shah Alam Community Forest be gazetted as a “community managed” forest reserve.
“The community would work with local government agencies to conserve and manage the forest,” its secretary Alicia Teoh said at a hiking programme today.
“At most forest reserves, people are not allowed in. We would like to propose that, maybe around the perimeter of the forest, there can be hiking trails for people,” she added.
Some 130 acres of the forest land is said to be owned by the state, while another 270 is owned by Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Selangor (PKNS).
Teoh, who founded the SACF Society alongside other residents, said the forest was an important recreational area and held ecological and educational significance.
“Forests are so rare in urban centres. And more forests are getting deforested for development, so they’re getting even more rare.”
She added that the forest was near the Setia Alam residential area, only a short distance for members of the community.
“I believe even people from Klang come here to hike. This is the nearest forest for them.”
The group has sent two letters so far to Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, pushing for a stop-work order for any development in the area. The most recent letter was sent on Dec 26.
The group also claims to have sent half a dozen letters to various politicians over the last two years, including former state exco for tourism, nature, green technology and consumerism, Elizabeth Wong, and Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad.
Asmarani Mohd Bidin, one of the volunteers who participated in today’s hike, said it was important that the state government preserve the forest.
Asmarani, 55, has three children and three grandchildren. She said forest reserves were not only for the existing urban residents, but for the next generation as well.
“If they take all the land, what can we show our kids and grandchildren? They won’t have any nature left,” she told FMT when met at the end of the hiking trail.
“We are okay with development, but they can’t develop all of it. We need reserves and parks for recreational purposes. This is very important for the community.”
Lai Chong Haur, who is vice-president of the SACF Society, said even if development could not be completely stopped, the residents would want to engage with the developers to find ways for sustainable development.
“They can build, but try to preserve nature and build around it. It can be done,” he said, adding that this was already being done overseas.
Kota Anggerik assemblyman Najwan Halimi, who also participated in the hike, said he would be meeting with Amirudin to discuss the preservation of the forest.
“I have also brought this up at the Selangor state assembly, for the land ownership and development to be reviewed, and the forest preserved.
“The forest is an attraction not only for the locals but for international hikers as well,” he told reporters.
He added however that there were many issues for consideration.
“We have to check and see who this land belongs to,” he said.
“If you look at the way the community manages the forest, it is very well managed and they have extraordinary commitment.
“If the state government decides to maintain the forest, I feel the community would be more than willing to help the government conserve it,” he said.
Link to article on Free Malaysia Today.
