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TRANSCRIPT
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Penang Hills Watch Report 2016
31st December 2016
Prepared by
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Contents
1.0 Introduction ......................................................................................... 3
2.0 Records of public observations ........................................................... 4
2.1 Zone 1: Northern Part of Penang Island ........................................... 5
2.2 Zone 2: Middle Part of Penang Island ............................................ 10
2.3 Zone 3: Southern Part of Penang Island ......................................... 17
3.0 Follow up ........................................................................................... 20
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Penang Hills Watch Report 2016
1.0 Introduction The Penang Hills Watch (PHW) was publicly launched by the Penang Forum (PF) on 31 October
2016, with an invitation to the public to contribute on-the-ground observations on hill clearing
activities. Thus far, we have received 40 cases of land clearing and construction activities on the
island, which we have documented, mapped and displayed online through the PHW portal
https://hillclearinginpenang.ushahidi.io/views/map.
A week before the launch, PF members requested and had a meeting with a number of
government agencies including Majlis Bandaraya Pulau Pinang (MBPP), Jabatan Perhutanan
Negeri Pulau Pinang (JPNPP), Jabatan Ukur dan Pemetaan Malaysia (JUPEM) and Jabatan
Perancang Bandar Dan Desa Pulau Pinang (JPBDPP) when we explained the purpose of the
PHW project and demonstrated the online application.
We emphasized that the observations made in the field need to be checked against official
records to determine if the clearing activities have official approval or, if otherwise, whether
these activities need to be checked out and acted upon by the relevant government authorities.
We therefore suggested close cooperation with MBPP and other relevant government
departments for mutual exchange of information, and our suggestion was well received at the
meeting.
This report constitutes our first compilation of observations since the launch at the end of
October 2016. Some of the cases which are on the PHW page have been independently
investigated by the relevant authorities and thus have been filtered out from this report.
So while there are 40 reports which have been received by PHW, we seek clarification for 29 out
of these 40 reports. We intend to produce quarterly reports starting from 2017, and to duly
submit to MBPP for the said purpose. The details of this first set of field observations are
provided below.
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2.0 Records of public observations PHW reports have been obtained from various locations around Penang State and while the
scope of PHW includes the whole of Penang State ( including Seberang Perai), the reports
received thus far by PHW in this first report are only from localities on Penang Island. Thus this
first report covers sites in Penang Island only.
Each report is identified by
A photo (or photos)
Nearest township or road
Approximate coordinates
Report and Photo date (Photo dates might vary from the report date)
Reports are grouped by three zones where they are obtained from. The zones are as follows;
Zone 1 - Northern part of Penang Island
Zone 2 - Middle part of Penang Island
Zone 3 - Southern part of Penang Island
The location of these regions are indicated in the illustrated map below with their locations as
numbered earlier. Zone 1 has 10 reports, Zone 2 has 14 reports and Zone 3 has 5 reports,
bringing the total number of reports for investigation to 29 .
Photo 1: Three zones covered in the PHW Report
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2.1 Zone 1: Northern Part of Penang Island
Report 1
Location : Near Lorong Lembah Permai 3.
Approximate Coordinates : 5°27'13.02"N, 100°16'52.89"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in October 2016 and January 2016 respectively.
Report 2
Location : Beside Jalan Mount Erskine
Approximate Coordinates : 5°26'52.84"N,100°18'1.91"E
Report sent in September 2016.
Photos taken in September 2016 and October 2016.
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Report 3
Location : Near Jalan Chan Siew Teong
Approximate Coordinates : 5°27'55.28"N, 100°16'28.66"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in November 2016.
Report 4
Location : Near Jalan Chan Siew Teong
Approximate Coordinates: 5°27'53.87"N,100°16'30.58"E
Report sent in September 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016 and September 2016.
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Report 5
Location : Hillslope near Penang National Park (Can be seen from Teluk Bahang Dam)
Approximate Coordinates : 5°27'14.42"N,100°12'12.38"E
Report sent in November 2016.
Photos taken in November 2016.
Report 6
Location : Near Lorong Lembah Permai (Bukit Lang slope).
Approximate Coordinates: 5°26'56.24"N,100°16'50.40"E
Report sent in December 2016.
Photo taken in December 2016.
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Report 7
Location : Beside Jalan Sungai 1, Batu Ferringghi, near Batu Ferringghi Aqueduct.
Approximate Coordinates : 5°28'1.11"N, 100°14'58.98"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photo taken in July 2016.
Report 8
Location : Near Jalan Batu Gantong
Approximate Coordinates : 5°25'14.79"N,100°17'40.57"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
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Report 9
Location : Near Solok Kejora 2
Approximate Coordinates : 5°27'6.75"N,100°17'33.03"E
Report sent in December 2016.
Photo taken in December 2016.
Report 10
Location : 1.37km northeast (uphill) from Bandar Baru Air Putih
Approximate Coordinates : 5°22'47.98"N,100°13'48.27"E
Report sent in December 2016.
Photo taken in December 2016.
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2.2 Zone 2: Middle Part of Penang Island
Report 11
Location : Near Cangkat Bukit Gambir.
Approximate Coordinates : 5°22'23.11"N,100°17'28.57"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in January 2016.
Report 12
Location : Near Lebuh Rambai 1
Approximate Coordinates : 5°22'51.35"N,100°16'45.90"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in August 2016
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Report 13
Location : Near Tingkat Paya Terubong 4
Approximate Coordinates : 5°22'0.68"N,100°16'36.41"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photo taken in August 2016.
Report 14
Location : Near Jalan Paya Terubong
Approximate Coordinates : 5°21'18.34"N,100°16'28.51"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in August 2016.
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Report 15
Location : Near Lintang Bukit Jambul 1
Approximate Coordinates : 5°20'38.47"N,100°16'52.82"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in November 2016 and 2014.
Report 16
Location : 1.8km west (horizontal distance) from Jalan Paya Terubong. On Bukit Penara and
Bukit Relau Range (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Forest Reserve)
Approximate Coordinates: 5°21'51.22"N, 100°15'26.67"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photos taken in August 2016.
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Report 17
Location : Beside Jalan Tun Sardon
Approximate Coordinates: 5°21'4.61"N,100°15'14.05"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
Report 18
Location : Near Jalan Tun Sardon (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Permanent Forest Reserve.)
Approximate Coordinates: 5°20'49.38"N,100°15'7.03"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
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Report 19
Location : 0.35km east (horizontal distance) from Jalan Tun Sardon (Bukit Pondok Upeh slope).
Approximate Coordinates: 5°20'30.40"N,100°14'58.24"E.
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
Report 20
Location : 1.6km west (horizontal distance) from Jalan Paya Terubong. On Bukit Penara and
Bukit Relau Range (Near/Inside Bukit Relau Forest Reserve).
Approximate Coordinates: 5°21'52.30"N,100°15'33.93"E
Report sent in August 2016.
Photo taken in August 2016.
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Report 21
Location : Persiaran Bukit Gambir
Approximate Coordinates: 5°21'38.42"N,100°17'19.50"E
Report sent in November 2016.
Photo taken in November 2016.
Report 22
Location : Jalan Bukit Gambir
Approximate Coordinates: 5°22'2.11"N,100°17'44.78"E
Report sent in November 2016.
Photo taken in November 2016.
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Report 23
Location : 1.10km eastward (uphill) from Jalan Bukit Gambir (Bukit Kukus Slope)
Approximate Coordinates: 5°21'57.50"N,100°17'14.94"E
Report sent in December 2016.
Photo taken in December 2016.
Report 24
Location : Beside Jalan Paya Terubong.
Approximate Coordinates: 5°22'11.59"N,100°16'26.19"E
Report sent in November 2016.
Photo taken in November 2016.
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2.3 Zone 3: Southern Part of Penang Island
Report 25
Location : 1.13km northeast of Bandar Baru Teluk Kumbar (Bukit Papan slope)
Approximate Coordinates: 5°18'7.92"N, 100°14'16.50"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
Report 26
Location : 0.10km northwest of Jalan Teluk Kumbar
Approximate Coordinates : 5°17'42.52"N,100°15'19.25"E
Report sent in November 2016.
Photo taken in November 2016.
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Report 27
Location : 0.53km northwest and uphill (horizontal distance) from Jalan Teluk Kumbar.
Approximate Coordinates: 5°17'53.12"N,100°14'59.19"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
Report 28
Location : Near Persiaran Kelicap.
Approximate Coordinates: 5°18'30.50"N,100°15'34.24"E
Report sent in October 2016.
Photo taken in October 2016.
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Report 29
Location : Near Jalan Bayan Lepas (Kampung Batu Maung)
Approximate Coordinates: 5°17'0.35"N,100°17'21.64"E
Report sent in December 2016.
Photo taken in December 2016.
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3.0 Follow up We seek MBPP’s assistance to look through the above observed reports and comment:
1. If the land clearing activity is legally sanctioned;
2. The purpose of the land clearing activity;
3. The land use status of the affected site;
4. If the activity is legal, the highest elevation from sea level in the activity site, and
5. If any action needs to be taken on the part of the Council or other government
departments.
We can then duly complete the records published on the PHW portal with accurate and
authoritative information. The people of Penang would welcome such openness on the part of the
authorities, which will be in line with the State’s CAT policy.
We also note that the Penang State Government is monitoring land clearing activities using
drones, as reported a month ago (STAR, 26 November 2016). As revealed, it has successfully
detected 40 cases of illegal hill clearing. We would like to know if some or all of these 40 cases
are different from the observations we have compiled here. If there are different cases we would
like to request if the geographical locations of these cases can be shared with us for uploading to
the PHW portal. This would be one way to engage the Penang public to exercise vigilance in
conducting ground checks as needed.
We look forward to your assistance and attention to the cases which were highlighted and hope
to receive your written answer in regards to it.
Thank you.
Penang Forum Steering Committee
31st of December 2016