Penang NO to Kedah's Intention

Penang CM Lim Guan Eng has spoken up against Kedah's intention to allow logging at the state's water catchment areas.

"There would be a catastrophic impact on the Northern Corridor Economic Region," Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told reporters today at his office.

The Kedah water catchment areas supply the bulk of irrigation water to rice fields across the three northern states of Penang, Kedah and Perlis besides water supply for industrial parks and townships.

Penang derives 80 percent of its 865 million litres of daily water consumption from Sungai Muda, which flows from the eastern part of Kedah to the Straits of Malacca.

The logging activities would earn Kedah a whopping RM16 billion in revenue which Lim described as a ‘highly disproportionate’ move to compensate for RM100 million which Kedah say was not delivered as promised by the federal government.

Lim said logging was not the answer to Kedah’s financial woes, arguing that the catastrophic impact would be far eclipse any monetary gain. Preserving the water catchment areas would be more beneficial in the long run, he said.

"The Kedah government has failed to conduct an in-depth study before approving logging in the catchment areas. It should not have forsaken long-term public interests,’ he said.

I applaud Lim for his strong stance against Kedah CM Azizan's intention to allow logging in these areas. Water is an important source of life, more important than even oil. Governments do not own the environment and the protection of our environment is a basic requirement for good governance.

Kedah government must not be allowed to go ahead with its intention.