Earlier this week, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob reiterated in the state assembly that the recent flood occurred in Pahang had no direct relations with the massive controversial logging practices, but were due to the ‘sudden’ climate change.

While policy-makers would not entirely dismiss the possibility that climate change may have precipitated this tragic event, legislators would do well to refrain from putting the blame solely on atmospheric changes. Instead, they should fixate on the practices and policies that are eroding our country’s ecosystem.

The 2014-15 flood hits Malaysia from Dec 22, 2014 to Jan 3, 2015. This was also one of the worst floods Malaysia has suffered since 1971. More than 200,000 people were affected while 21 had lost their lives due to the floods.

However, the rescue and aid initiatives by the government, was pessimistically viewed as another PR exercise that aim to shore up the electorate’s support. This was accentuated by the prime minister’s effort to help a flood victim put on safety boots, at the same time waiting for a photographer to angle a perfect shot of the process. Netizens were quick to comment how incredulous it was that politicians were playing the political game even at a time of crisis.

Truth in the government’s efforts on tackling the flood was at most minimal. There was neither short-term policy nor long-term blueprint plan to effectively prevent another similar horrific crisis. That is why when the floods occurred, we witnessed a shocked and distressed government seemingly clueless about the whole affair, thus, hampering and delaying the humanitarian efforts lead by them.

So what caused the flood?

Firstly, experts explained that the unusual heavy rainfall in Kelantan and Pahang might have been partly responsible for the flood. For example, Gunung Gagau in Pahang alone has recorded its heaviest rainfall for a thousand years.

It is generally assumed that the overall increase of carbon emission and global warming due to globalisation might have contributed to the unexpected large rainfall. However, to pin the blame solely on rainfall or atmospheric change constricts our perspective, knowledge and, ultimately, the entire discourse of this whole topic.

The pervasive east coast floods are inextricably link to the excessive and irresponsible logging in Malaysia. But before we probe deeper into this issue, we must first elucidate ourselves the definition of forest plantation in the context of Malaysia.

According to the National Forest Act 1984, Section 10, the Permanent Reserve Forest (PRF) or Hutan Simpanan Kekal is divided into 11 categories, and once they are classified as Production Forests, they are vulnerable to deforestation. On top of that, Production Forests could be utilised-namely Ladang Hutan or Tree Plantation-as forest plantation for various plantation activities. The PRFs are certainly neither permanent, nor even labelled as forest in this case.

Malaysia had registered 4.9 million hectares of PRF, which 2.1 million hectares were allocated production purposes. According to data provided by Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM), that the total size of forested areas classified as timber tree plantations in the country was recorded at 108,512 hectares in 2008.

By 2013, this figure had skyrocketed to 324,417 hectares - a leap of close to 200 percent within a span of just five years. Furthermore, the land allocated for timber tree plantations constitutes of 6.6 percent of the PRF.

Forest plantation within the PRF is a recipe for further exploitation and it is faulty under the current policies setting. For instance, The Latex Timber Clone Plantation Zone developed within PRF does not need to follow the strict specifications of logging regulations (such as forest management certification standards). And on top of that an authorised plantation company could easily deforest the whole area and replant the area for monetary gain.

This gives rise to further exploitation from profit-seeking companies, earning twice the profit - one from deforestation, and one from replantation. Moreover, land forest whose jurisdiction belongs to the state government could also be exploited under the same aforementioned methods.

These disappearing forests would not be statistically present in the database of Malaysia’s Forest Bureau. This is because these forests will be categorised as ‘forest area’ (Kawasan Hutan) under the database. And within the database, Production Forests of the PRF will be grouped into ‘forest area’. This means that up to 320,000 hectares of area have been developed, but are still classified as forests!

Furthermore, a Forest Management Certificate Report produced by a third-party auditor commissioned by The Forest Bureau also deliberately omitted the latest details and status of forest plantations.

An audit report commissioned by the Pahang state government also proclaims in its Summary Information that the forests outside of PRF, and as well as Forest Plantation areas in PRF, will not be under the purview of the audit report. Therefore, we can presuppose the condition of these forests that was omitted from the surveillance of the authorities is indeed appalling.

So what’s the connection between deforestation and flood?

Kelantan - the state most affected by the floods - had the largest bulk of PRF classified as timber tree plantations at 162,485 hectares, or 26 percent of Kelantan’s PRF.

In regard to this, Pahang is also in a perilous state. The Pahang state government had agreed to lease 17,004 hectares of PRF for forest planting purposes on November 2007. However, the areas are located in Lembing Chereh and Berkelah. These areas merged together are twice as large as one Kuantan City. Similarly, during 2013, the area used for forest plantation has suddenly soared from 24,043 hectares to 31,831 hectares.

And thus, regrettably, Pahang had one of its catastrophic floods in 2013 and subsequently at a smaller scale in 2014-15.

So why has the government has turned a blind eye on such matters, and who is gaining from such activities that threaten to cause further harm on our ecosystem?

What the public must be cognisant of is the enormous profit extracted from both the logging activities and forest plantation that gives rise to where we are right now. According to one of the policies advocated by the Malaysian Timber Industry Board, the institution aims to develop up to 375,000 hectares of forest plantation in between 2006-2020. This is almost equivalent to allocate 25,000 hectares for forest plantation per year.

Therefore, the Malaysian Timber Industry Board decided to set up a Forest Plantation Development company received government funding of up to RM1,045,000,000. These grants will be of ‘low-interest loans’ spanning over 20 years to repay, and its purpose was to relend to qualified companies to undertake forest plantation project.

So RM4,000-RM6,000 per hectare loans could be obtained by clearing the forest plantation (which is deforestation of the PRF in reality). Moreover, the loan tenure is 20 years, further encouraging private companies to view logging exercises in Malaysia as a piece of profitable business.

A British think-tank, Chatham House, has looked into the rampant logging scandal in Malaysia and concludes that the failure of Malaysia to tackle deforestation problem is mainly due to corruption and lack of political will. Furthermore, when government institutions are colluding with profit-seeking companies, this will result in prevalent corruption practices in a country.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has also announced a RM500 million funds for repair and reconstruction of basic infrastructure in the flood-stricken areas. While we should welcome any form of aid offered by the government, nevertheless, government institution must also stay vigilant and prevent the misallocation and misappropriation of the aforementioned funds.

Former opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, in the wake of the crisis, also stated that the government should freeze any forest-to-plantation conversions and state land councils should conduct thorough reviews of the National Forestry Policy. He also urged the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to act and eradicate corruption in logging activities.

There must be a complete removal of forest plantation practices within the PRF. National forest policies, and even the National Forest Act must be drafted and amended based on the spirit of sustainable forest policy, such as: the reduction of the rate timber harvesting, prioritize forest regeneration, respect the wishes of local indigenous communities in PRF. Finally, The National Forest Policies shall have precedence over the Malaysian Timber Industry Board.

Furthermore, forest plantation, logging areas, and rubber or oil palm plantations must no longer be classified as ‘forest’ under any database. Otherwise, our statistics would never have an accurate data on our existing ecosystem, and this raises the probability of another impending natural disaster

The construction of flood mitigation measures would also be more auspicious if it includes the cooperation of state government and state citizens. Initiatives such as a more comprehensive alarm system, specialised evacuation centres catering to each area, speedy and efficient of reconstruction of infrastructure would make Malaysia better prepared for any natural disasters in the future.

The effects of climate change and global warming had on our ecosystem certainly could not be discounted. However, our government is still largely at fault by failing to tackle environmental issues and protecting our ecosystem. As the challenges and effects of global warming is slowly but surely seeping into our country, it is imperative for the government to review our existing environmental policies.

LEE CHEAN CHANG is the PKR Environmental Bureau chief and also the state assemblyperson for Semambu, Pahang.