The Launch of Panti Bird Sanctuary, Kota Tinggi, Johor Darul Ta'zim

The Panti Bird Sanctuary is the cumulative results of many years of work between MNS Johor and the Johor Forestry Department. MNS Johor has needled successive Johor Forestry Department's directors starting with Dr. Abdul Rahman Abdul Rahim in 2007 and later with Haji Zulkefli Mokhtar in 2008 and now with Haji Yahaya Mohamood. Only with Haji Yahaya did we see something positive starting with the sponsorship of the printing of the Panti's Coffee Table book titled "On Feathered Wings: The Birds of Panti" by Mr. Vincent Chow, which is to be launched together with the Sanctuary's launch.

The first date chosen for the launch was January 18, 2010 but it was not agreeable to the Chief Minister, Dato' Abdul Ghani Othman. Then the date chosen was March 13, changed to March 14 and later back to March 13. I was not happy with the March 13 date as the date was chosen as the Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Parents-Teachers Association (PIBG) for Sek. Men. Keb. Taman Desa Skudai (SMKTDS), where I am the President or Yang DiPertua (YDP).

Suddenly, Tuanku (the Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Ismail Al-Marhum Sultan Iskandar) indicated he wants to launch the Sanctuary after his return from India on 17 March. Well, with Tuanku's intent, lots of people have to work hard to make sure that things would be pleasing to Tuanku. The most possible launch's date would be some time in the end of March or early April.

Now with Vincent's report about the presence of the military exercises by the Malaysian, Australian and British armies using live bullets on March 13, then some more work would be needed to make sure that the Sanctuary is closed to any military exercises in the future. The Johor Forestry Department has to discuss with the Malaysian Army to find new ground for their exercises.



Suddenly, on the 30 July, when I called Haji Yahaya to ask him about Johor Forestry reforestation plan, I was informed that Tuanku would be launching the event on 9 August, as part of his Kembara Mahkota program.


The event went well with at least 40 participants from MNS Johor and four participants from MNS HQ including Maye Yap and Wee Chin. Tuanku stopped at MNS booth and both Vincent and I got ourselves in the Sin Chew Daily (unfortunately, both of us cannot read Mandarin).

Kluang Water Woes

The Letter to the Editor below was sent to both New Straits Times and the Star about a week ago. Usually these newspapers would print my letters but I assume the editors would not print this specific letter as they would probably presume that it might feed to the anti-oil palm lobby although the issue is more about the management of watershed or water catchment areas.

The Editor
New Straits Times
31 Jalan Riong
59100 KUALA LUMPUR

Dear Editor,                                                                                         

I really sympathize with the people of Kluang and the nearby communities of Paloh, Chamek and Niyor. Imagine how they had to struggle to ensure that they would have sufficient water supply during the recent Chinese New Year especially for the customary family reunion dinner. Ironically, while they were suffering, the water resource-rich state of Johor was and is supplying a substantial amount of water to the Republic of Singapore via the nearby Linggui Reservoir and many other reservoirs in the state, and at the same time is also supplying water to the water-poor state of Melaka from Sg. Muar at Gersik.

So, what went wrong?  There is a familiar maxim "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail". The bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians of Johor failed to plan for their own, the people of Kluang and its vicinity. There are two Semberong rivers supplying most of the water to the community (somehow the locals lacked the imagination to come up with viable names for the rivers), Sg. Semberong Timur is a tributary of Sg. Endau and it has no impoundment, so the water treatment plant withdraws raw water direct from the river for treatment. Unfortunately, the water catchment upstream is about 80 % with oil palm plantations such as FELDA Kahang Barat, FELDA Hulu Belitong, Ladang Sindora and Ladang Bukit Lawiang. There are some forest reserves such as Hutan Rizab Renggam and Hutan Rizab Kluang but the forested watershed area is relatively small. Most of the plantations do not comply with the guidelines of conserving the riparian or buffer zones along the riverbanks – palm trees have been planted right up to the riverbanks.

Meanwhile, Sg. Semberong Barat, which joins Sg. Bekok near Parit Raja, is a tributary of Sg. Batu Pahat. The water treatment plant withdraws raw water from an impoundment but the water catchment area is small and without forests of notable size. Instead, the watershed is nearly 100 percent agriculture (mostly oil palm plantations) and human settlements such as FELCRA Batu 67, Kg. Seri Lalang and Kg. Baru Seri Lalang. There is also a large area of pasturelands developed by the Department of Agriculture next to the reservoir.

So, what is wrong with oil palm plantations within water catchment areas especially considering oil palm's average evapotranspiration is lower than that of forested watershed (1300 mm versus 1400 mm)? The main problem is that oil palm plantations do not retain the baseflow due to two major factors. Firstly, an oil palm plantation usually has lots of drains and channels which drain water out of the plantations and secondly, the soil compaction within oil palm plantations is higher than forested catchment and even rubber plantations. Therefore, rainwater does not infiltrate down to the groundwater, which later would be the baseflow for the streams and rivers. It means that while naturally forested water catchment still has baseflow coming out of springs into the streams even after three months of drought, water catchment with mostly oil palm plantations' baseflow would dry out within a short period of time. It seems that with this knowledge, we should realize that although oil palm plantations are economic boons for the country, water resource-wise, they are a bane.

Everyone would agree that water resources are important but unfortunately the importance is not usually converted to appropriate actions. Bureaucrats, technocrats and politicians happily designate an area as "water catchment" without considering the actual work that needs to be done, such as ensuring that the upstream of the water intake should be forested and therefore protected from being converted into agricultural entities such oil palm plantations. This is what happened to the Sg. Semberong Timur and Sg. Semberong Barat water catchment areas.

It is not too late to repair the damage but political will is very much needed to decrease the ratio of oil palm plantations versus natural forests in the water catchment areas.


Assoc. Prof. Dr. Maketab Mohamed
Chairman, Malaysian Nature Society, Johor Branch

Activities During and After the MNS AGM 2010, 25 Sept.

There would be three choices of organized activities that would be carried  out on 26 September (Sunday):

 

  

 

1) Full Hike to G. Ledang Peak, which needs around 14 hours round trip (7 am - 9 pm) and please train yourself before embarking on this relatively arduous trip. If you plan to join this hike, you would need to stay an extra night and check out on Monday, Sept. 27;

 

  

 

2) "Short-cut" Hike to Ledang Peak using the Telekom Road plus Slipper Orchids conservation (about 5   hours). This would be a 45 minutes 4 WD vehicle drive to the parking spot near the telecommunications towers and a 20 minutes hike to the Peak. On the way back we will stop near the springs and search for slipper orchids to be transferred to a safe location;

 

 

3) Hike to Pasir Panjang/Kolam Gajah plus trail maintenance (about 5 hours). Could be round trip or exiting through the Air Panas Trail at the Gunung Ledang Resort;

 

 

For participants who do not want to take on any of the trips mentioned above, you can do your own circuit walks around Sg. Air Putih near the Park Headquarters or join free organized tours to be led by MNSJ stalwarts such as Mr. Vincent Chow, Mr. Harban Singh or Mr. Hamid Abdul Rahman in the evenings of 24 or 25 September. The schedule would be posted later.