OPPOSITION Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has criticised Natural Resources Minister Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan after the latter had described the recent landslides at Kedah’s Gunung Jerai as an ‘act of God’.
In Parliament on Monday (Sept 20), Takiyuddin had said this in response to a question from Jerai MP who asked about the remedial actions that the federal Government was taking to ensure that affected areas would be safe.
This has prompted Anwar to cut in, declaring that such a response was unacceptable.
“On the issue of nature, please do not blame God because at times it is a problem caused by humans,” he said, adding that the answer had been repeated by the previous works minister and that it was an act of God whenever there was an intrusion (illegal logging).
“How do you know that it is an act of God when human greed was what destroyed the trees?” Anwar demanded.
Takiyuddin further insisted that no logging activity had taken place in Gunung Jerai, which was gazetted as a National Geopark in conjunction with the coronation of the 29th Sultan of Kedah Sultan Sallehuddin Ibni Almarhum Sultan Badlishah in 2018.
While forest products could be extracted from 88% of this land, Takiyuddin said that the Kedah state government has not issued any logging licence in the past three years in the UIu Muda forest reserve.
He went on to explain that when he went to visit the site of the floods, he noticed that the trees that found in the aftermath were uprooted and not felled, thus indicating that they were not from logging activities.
“This is what we call a destiny set by God. Act of God,” he repeated.
Massive floods had hit Merbok and Yan in Kedah back in August 2021 following an intense rainfall which affected about 1,000 families. – Sept 20, 2021
