IPOH, April 6 — Incensed by the irresponsible actions of certain tour guides, the Perak government has chosen to demolish illegal structures, mostly camp sites, built on Pulau Sembilan. 

This comes after Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah lauded the government’s move to close off the cluster of nine islands to the public to protect them from further damage.

State tourism and culture committee chairman Datuk Nolee Ashilin Mohammed Radzi said the campsites were built although they were prohibited. 

"We will take action,” she said, adding the demolition would begin as soon as the local authorities complete their investigations. 

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir and several state leaders, including Nolee, visited the island last week for a first-hand view of the work to rehabilitate the damaged islands.

The islands are famous for a unique natural phenomenon called Blue Tears — luminescent phytoplankton that gather in abundance along the coastlines of Pulau Rumbia and Pulau Lalang in the cluster.

However, the cluster was declared closed from April 1 after excessive tourism activities degraded the area. 

In addition to the illegally erected structures, Nolee said, the tour operators had exceeded the daily carrying capacity of 120 people, bringing in 200 to 300 people instead.

"They were also not supposed to stay overnight on weekdays without a permit, but this rule was  disobeyed. We will be strict after this,” she said.

Nolee said the state government would be re-examine the management system for the islands.

This included the systems in place for waste and sewage disposal, tourist activities and enforcement.

"There was supposed to be a monitoring system in place for the islands, but they failed to make sure the operators complied with the rules,” she said. 

"We have set up a taskforce with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency(MMEA) and police to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” 

Nolee said no one was allowed on the islands from last Saturday.

"Pulau Sembilan was gazetted as a state park to protect its natural environment. We will not allow its treasures to be sacrificed,” she said.