GEORGE TOWN, July 8 — With members numbering in the thousands, fishermen from Penang and Perak together with local environmental groups announced today their plan to march to Parliament Thursday to demand the cancellation of the proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project.
Penang Consumers Association (CAP) acting president Mohideen Abdul Kader said coastal fishermen from the two northern states along with representatives from non-governmental organisations will gather at Tugu Negara in Kuala Lumpur at 8am for a press conference on July 11 before their protest march to Parliament just down the road.
“The reclamation project which covers 4,500 acres of sea in the southern part of Penang island will cause adverse impacts to the surrounding environment, socio-economy and livelihoods of fishermen in Penang and Perak,” he said in a brief statement today.
Mohideen said the groups hope to submit their petition and memorandum against the project to Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahahtir Mohamad and ministers from the relevant ministries.
The protest is in response to the announcement by Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow last week that the Department of Environment (DoE) had approved the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the PSR.
The approval comes with 72 conditions that Chow said he will reveal sometime this week.
Penang-based NGOs including CAP, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), Penang Forum and fishermen groups have repeatedly protested against the PSR.
CAP and SAM expressed their alarm that the civil society groups’ comments and views were ignored by the DOE when the EIA was approved.
One of the main issues the groups raised was the series impact on fishery resources and the livelihood of fishermen.
“We had pointed out that the fisher community is being wiped out as well as the fishing industry itself south of Penang island,” they said in a joint statement on the approval.
They said all the alternative proposed for the fishermen in the EIA were unreasonable and unrealistic without empathy for the fishing community.
They also said the landing and nesting ground of Olive Ridley turtles will be wiped out due to the reclamation.
In a joint press conference in May, Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam claimed that more than 6,000 fishermen in northern Perak will also be indirectly affected due to sand mining activities off the northern coast of Perak for the PSR.
The groups have a trilingual online petition titled “Save Penang! Reject the 3-islands Reclamation!” that has garnered over 45,000 signatures to date.
The PSR is the funding module for the state’s mega infrastructure project — the RM46 billion Penang Transport Master Plan (PTMP).
It will cost SRS about RM11 billion to reclaim the three islands — A, B and C — which will make available a total 4,500 acres of lands.
The state plan to sell lands created on the islands to raise funds for the PTMP that included a Light Rail Transit and the controversial Pan Island Link 1 highway.
