Malaysian federal government will look into land reclamation controversy

March to Malaysia's Parliament House to protest the Penang government’s proposed Penang South Reclamation (PSR) project

Aug 3, 2019

For the first time in history, around 200 Malaysian fishermen – 120 from Penang and 80 from Perak – marched to Parliament to air their grievances on the 11th of July. Representatives of NGOs from Penang and Taiping joined the march.

“Don’t pour sand into our rice bowl" said the fishermen during their march to Parliament on 11th of July, on which they chanted “Tolak Tambak” (reject reclamation) in a bid to garner attention to their demands from ministers and MPs.

Ten memoranda were submitted to the Prime Minister and meetings were held with the Minister of Housing and Local Government and the Minister of Agriculture.

Both ministers were impressed by the total number of signatures in support of the campaign: Rainforest Rescue hosted an international petition “Save Malaysia’s Sea Turtles”, supported by 132,000 people, while change.org hosted a national “Save Penang! Reject the 3-Islands Reclamation!” signed by 44,000.

In a session of Parliament on the 16th of July, the opposition Kepala Batas MP raised the question of reclamation and its effects on fisheries. The Minister of Agriculture’s detailed reply illustrated the serious dilemma posed to fisheries. Noting that the Penang South Reclamation has become an issue of great public concern, the Pakatan Harapan MP (Permatang Pauh) raised the possibility of doing away with it altogether by looking into an alternative solution to the problem.

“We have succeeded in raising this state issue to the Malaysian national level, thus improving our chances of lobbying for a desirable outcome”, said Khoo Salma of the Penang Forum. Local environmental activists greatly appreciate the powerful platform and support that Rainforest Rescue provided.

Thanks to everyone who signed our petition! We will be keeping it online until the land reclamation project is finally off the table. You can still sign it here.