ISKANDAR PUTERI, Dec 9 — Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian today said that the state government will ensure that Pulau Kukup continues to maintain its status as a National Park.
He said Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar wanted the status of the island as a National Park to be maintained and regulated by the state government.
Pulau Kukup is recognised as the second largest mangrove forest in the world.
“I will honour Tuanku’s decree on the importance of mangrove forests as a natural erosion barrier from waves, besides preserving its biodiversity.
“The retention of the status will also enable Pulau Kukup to remain as a state tourism product,” said Osman in his winding-up speech at the Johor state assembly at the Sultan Ismail Building in Kota Iskandar here today.
Earlier, Osman explained that the decision to abolish the status of Pulau Kukup as a National Park was made in the previous Johor executive council meeting on March 7, when the then Barisan Nasional (BN) had administered the state.
He said the decision was only known to the Johor Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration when Pulau Kukup’s status cancellation was gazetted after receiving the council’s approval during BN’s administration and then reported by the media.
“I was surprised by the news reports, especially when there were friends in PH who accused the state government in approving the degazettement when in actually happened during the previous administration,” he said.
Osman said Pulau Kukup’s change in status as Sultanate Land was to ensure that the island was better protected.
“When an area is gazetted into Sultanate Land, it will come under the Sultanate Enactment 1934 and no development can be made in the area,” he said.
Osman, whose state portfolio also includes natural resources, land and mines, said the issue of Pulau Kukup’s status should not be prolonged as it still remains as a National Park.
The issue about Pulau Kukup's status emerged after a gazette notifying that the state authorities will cancel the whole area as a national park under subsection 3(3) of the National Park Environment Enactment (Johor) 1989.
On September 24, the state executive committee under PH approved the degazettement and this time, a gazette on the decision was published on October 25.
The state government said that the decision was made by the previous administration and was not aware that this was already decided.
The move will nullify its status as a Ramsar Convention “Wetland of International Importance” site.
Media reported that Pulau Kukup will become Sultanate Land after the Johor government degazetted it from a national park.
However, the Johor state assembly on Thursday passed an emergency motion for the state government to review the matter.
Earlier this week, Johor Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim tweeted that the island, one of the few pristine wetlands in South-East Asia, will be better protected after its status was changed from a national park to “sultanate land”.
Tunku Ismail, who is popularly known as TMJ, said it was also practised in the United Kingdom where all the parks belong to the Crown.
He added that Sultan Ibrahim had decreed that Pulau Kukup would remain a national park after it becomes “sultanate land” under the Sultanate Land Enactment.
Pulau Kukup, located off the coast of Pontian in south Johor, has been a national park since 1997 and mostly uninhabited.
Renowned as the world’s second largest uninhabited mangrove island, it is one of five Ramsar sites in Malaysia.
Ramsar sites are wetland sites accorded international importance under the United Nations’ (UN) Convention on Wetlands.
