Tanjung Kupang Fishermen Leaving It To Fate

Disturbance of the marine ecology at the Straits of Johor has hurt the daily catch for Johor’s coastal fishermen since the first pile went into the straits to build the 2nd Link.

Subsequent developments such as the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, power plant and petrochemical hub have affected the fish, prawn and crab stocks.

Now two future developments are slated for the already stressed Straits, one a massive 4,800 acre development of luxury dwellings called Forest City and another proposed 3,484 acre reclamation project proposed by Benelac.

Both will form artificial islands in the straits. Could these two be the final nail in the coffin for the largely Malay fishing community on the south-west corner of the Johor Straits?

We speak to an environmental activist and two fishermen from the fishing village of Tanjung Kupang, just 40 kilometres from Johor Bahru and take a boat ride to a vital ecological area, the Merambong Shoal. Part of this shoal has been reclaimed over – a sand bank now juts out from the land and the shoal is facing total destruction.  

The Merambong Shoal

“The Merambong shoal is so rich and diverse and a vital component of marine life all along the

Bakhtiar Jaaffar, Environmental Activist

Straits of Johor,” says environmental activist, and former teacher Bakhtiar Jaaffar. It is home to the largest sea grass bed in peninsular Malaysia and stretches from the Pulai River estuary to Merambong Island on the Straits of Johor.

Why is this shoal so vital?

“Where the mangrove and river systems are the hatcheries for fish, prawns and crustaceans, the shoal and sea grass bed is their nursery. This is where fish and crustaceans mature,” he explains.

Once there was an abundance of seahorses in the shoal estimated to be about 30 hectares in size. Bakhtiar’s Alumni Club together with the Save Our Seahorses initiative created an inventory listing 14 categories, comprising 49 types of marine life in the Merambong Shoal including 20 types of local fishes and 15 types of crustaceans.

“One type of fish, the pipefish is extremely rare. The other location where this fish exists is in the Gulf of Aden,” he says.

“Take this shoal away, and you take away a vital component of the marine ecosystem and thus a food source,” he adds. This is the food source that the coastal fishermen of Southern Johor have relied on for revenue since human civilization began in this region.

Once there were turtles that hunt these waters for crabs and other crustaceans, and dugongs were reported to have frolicked in these waters of the shoal. It was an important habitat for seahorses. 


The threat to the shoal began in 1994.

“Since reclamation and construction work started in 1994 for the Malaysia – Singapore Second Link, our catch from these coastal waters have dropped drastically,” says Norhaidi bin Mahmood, 54 who has been a fishermen since he was 15 years of age.

No sooner was the second link completed in 1998, that work commenced on the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, which began operations in 1999, followed by a petrochemical hub and a power plant in Tanjung Bin.

“Before this, we could bring home 50 to 60 kilos of crabs with a 600-metre net. But now we need to lay 1,000 metres of net to catch maybe 20 kilos of crabs and sometimes we net only five or six kilos; doesn’t even pay for the cost of fuel,” adds Norhaidi’s cousin Abdul Ghani bin Abdul Rashid, a 40 year old fisherman.

“We would be lucky if we earn RM1,000 a month now,” adds Norhaidi. According to Norhaidi, there are over 200 fishermen in his village of Kampung Tanjung Kupang, but if you include other fishing communities in the south west of Johor from Tanjung Piai to Johor Bahru, there are easily more than 1,000 fishermen trying to eke out a living in this once bountiful Straits of Johor. Almost all are Malays and a smaller number of Orang Asli Seletar fishermen.

As at time of publication, the Forest City Development has been kept on hold pending a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report requested by the Federal government’s Department of the Environment. “But the damage has been done to the shoal. One area has already been reclaimed and rises from the waters like an embankment, effectively splitting the shoal.

“The embankment was then ‘cut’ to create a channel after complaints that tide flow was affected. “The developers claim that creating the embankment from shore was done in error,” says Bakhtiar.

Now the waters are murky from sand used to build the embankment and the sea grass bed is in danger of dying. “This shoal is our treasure, says Bakhtiar. “How could they have allowed this to happen?” he asks. Often rubbish gets stuck in the nets and sand from the reclamation damages fishing nets, increasing the cost of fishing while fish stocks decline. 

Mitigation Efforts

Bakhtiar says there are mitigation efforts. “But you can’t just transplant the sea grass bed. Where are you going to transplant it to?” He says they’ve put buoys to hold nets and these surround the embankment to hold the sand in place.

“This will surely create a dead zone. Nothing can survive. They don’t understand that marine life need the right environment and depend on each other to survive; it’s a symbiotic relationship,” explains Bakhtiar.

And what of the State’s department of the environment?

Bakhtiar questions how and why the state government’s environmental department could have approved such destruction to the area’s ecology. “They claim they monitor all projects that could have adverse effects on the environment and community but they probably do this monitoring with long range binoculars,” he says cynically. “No villager here has seen or met with any officers from the department of the environment,” Bakhtiar claims.

For fishermen Norhaidi and Abdul Ghani, the future is bleak.

Norhadi Mahmood, Fisherman

Norhaidi has four children, one at university. One in a technical college, while two others are in school aged 17 and five.

Abdul Ghani is widowed also has four young children, the eldest being just 11 and the youngest, six. They have no idea what they will do if there is nothing else left to fish and they could no longer earn a living.

“Nowadays it’s difficult to earn a thousand ringgit a month,” says Norhaidi.

He has been tightening his belt, but then there’s the prospect of a 6% Government Sales Tax from April 2015 and he expects his cost of living to balloon.

“If the government wants to help, one way is to give us land and turn us into farmers,” he adds. “There’s no future in fishing anymore.” “I can’t go and fish elsewhere, like in Kota Tinggi (Johor river area),” says Abdul Ghani.

“I don’t have local knowledge of other areas other than this and you just can’t go fish anywhere,” he adds.

There is a rumour of the government compensating them with fishing trawlers that could fish further out to sea. “How are they going to do that with over a thousand fishermen affected by all these developments?” asks Abdul Ghani

 “And you need to employ people to operate these boats, not like now where it’s just us,” Abdul

Abdul Ghani bin Abdul Rashid, Fisherman

 

Ghani says.

“The fishermen are stunned. They don’t know what’s happening,” adds Bakhtiar. Bakhtiar thinks that proving fishermen with trawlers to go out father into the sea into the straits of Malacca would be a good idea.

“Train the children of the fishermen to operate the trawlers because many of them will end up as fishermen themselves anyway. Some will go on to colleges and universities but the majority will remain to inherit their father’s vocation,” he says. 


Survey? What survey?

“There are people claiming to have done a poll and the results indicate that the people here support the development of Forest City. Who did they survey? They certainly didn’t survey me,” says Bakhtiar. “Did they survey foreign workers living here? How many kampong people and fishermen did they survey?” asks Bakhtiar sarcastically.

“A dialogue held in September with the developers was a ruckus affair and clearly showed that the people here are unhappy with the development,” he adds.

In July this year the State government announced that developers conducting reclamation work would have to contribute 30 sen per square foot towards a fund for fishermen. (http://www.nst.com.my/node/10057).

How this will pan out is still a mystery for Bakhtiar and the two fishermen we interviewed.

“Who is going to manage this fund? How will it be used? These are issues that haven’t been revealed,” says Bakhtiar.

Being a former teacher Bakhtiar is concerned for the future generation. When he was teaching, he organized an environment club outside of the school’s curricula and followed that with an alumni club comprising of former students. They helped out NGO, Save Our Seahorses at many fact-finding projects concerning the environment and in particular around the Merambong Shoal.

“What’s going to happen to the youth of this village when there are no more fish, prawns and crabs to earn from?” he asks. “Nobody asks the youth here what they want, and they should be asked because it’s their future,” he says.

The Fishermen’s Association

We asked about their Fishermen’s Association. The fishermen shook their heads. “We don’t want to say anything. It would not sound very nice, says Norhaidi.

According to Bakhtiar, the information doesn’t get to the fishermen. “Whatever information the association received doesn’t get filtered down to the members.

They seem to think that because they are elected, they can decide on what to do without informing or briefing the others. “How can they do this especially on important issues, but that’s the level of their

thinking because that’s their level of education,” says a cynical Bakhtiar. The two fishermen seem to have resigned themselves to an uncertain future.

Quotes Norhaidi fatefully; “Ibarat batu tengelam. Ibarat sabut timbul” or ‘if you are lucky you will float and if you are unlucky, you will sink’.

“Many of us don’t even own the land we live on; we are either squatting on property of relatives or on government land. If we are forced to move, where will we go?

If they offer low cost housing, we won’t be able to buy because banks will never approve our loan applications; we don’t have a salary slip.

“You wait and see. Fishermen here will be living under bridges and underpasses soon,” says Norhaidi.

Johor Fishermen: Drowning By Development

The coastal fishermen of southern Johor are under pressure. Their very existence is under threat from fast-paced developments engulfing where they live and work – the coastal areas fronting the Straits of Johor. Before work began at the mouth of the Pulai River for the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, they could earn RM100 worth of catch from a quick trip to lay their nets and traps and they could go out three or four times a day.

En Mansor Mahidin, 65

Before work began for the construction of PTP, fishermen earned RM4,000 to RM5,000 a month. Their catch were weighed in tons. Since the construction and subsequent operation of PTP, other projects have appeared on shore such as a power plant and a petrochemical facility that has allegedly destroyed large swathes of mangrove forests along the shoreline on the Malaysia side of the Straits of Johor.

“Before they dug up the mouth of the Pulai River for the Port of Tanjung Pelepas, that area was unique. That was not only a fishing area but where prawns, fish and crustaceans move up river to lay their eggs,” says fisherman Mansor Mahidin, 65. Mansor is also the president of the Fishermen Action Committee of Mukim Serkat.

“So now where are these marine life going to spawn? It’s a critical area,” he adds. Whatever fishing areas are left, have been ‘taken over’ by ships that ply the straits heading into or out of PTP.

All the fishermen have left are spots of areas closer to shore that have not already been affected by a power plant and a petrochemical plant. Fishing communities along the once productive Straits of Johor are hemmed in and stressed.




Note: At time of publication, reclamation work seems to have been halted pending a report and recommendation from the environment department.

Marine Ecology Destroyed

“Any form of coastal development will destroy the ecology of the coastal areas and rivers,” says fisherman Jamaluddin Mohamad, 45.

“A study has determined that the mangrove forests are vital for 75% of marine life and when these are destroyed the impact will be felt by not only the fishermen but by the country as a whole. “Why? Because more fish will be imported to meet local demand and therefore we lose foreign exchange,” Jamaluddin says. Jamaluddin says that the country’s food security will be at risk.

En Jamaluddin Mohamad, 45

“We are one of the largest consumers of fish in the region and yet the government wants to ‘reduce the size of the sea’,” he says. If the current development aren’t bad enough, reclamation work to build islands for luxury condominiums have encroached on highly sensitive ecological areas; Beting Merambong (Merambong shoal) and the island of Pulau Merabong.

Nearby off Tanjung Kupang are said to house the largest bed of sea grass and seaweed on the coast of peninsula Malaysia that supports a multitude of vital species of marine life including the seahorse and dugong. Where the mangrove forests, rivers and estuaries are the nesting grounds of marine life, where they lay their eggs and spawn, shoals and seagrass beds are their nurseries before they head out to sea.

“Why has the government allowed this to happen? Why has the federal government allowed the state government to overrule it on matters of the environment?” asks Jamaluddin.

One Foot In Indonesian Jail

“In 2001 I could easily earn RM3,500 to RM4,000 a month just from fishing in this coastal areas, now I am putting one foot in an Indonesian jail because I have to fish within their borders to feed my family of seven children, the oldest at university and the youngest is just three years old,” says Jamaluddin.

Now, out of 100 days at sea, he spends 90 of those in Indonesian waters, travelling 16 nautical miles, taking him over an hour to get to his fishing area, and spending six to eight hours as an illegal fisherman. He does this at night. Jamaluddin, a graduate of a technical college in Kuala Lumpur only became a fisherman in 2001 when he was retrenched from work during the 1997 economic crisis that hit the region.

Mansor however has been a fisherman all his life. His grandfather was one, so was his father. When he was just nine years old, his father passed away and he had to leave school to follow his uncle to sea. By 12, he was already a fully-fledged fisherman.

“I have sent my children to university from the earnings of those years; two, studied medicine, says Mansor. He is happy that none has followed his footsteps as a fisherman.“There is no future,” he says.

Create A Felda Scheme For Fishermen

“The government tells us to change our ways. We can’t to that. We have no funds. If the government wants us to leave fishing, then do what they did during Tun Razak’s time; give us each 10 acres and we work the land, just like the Felda schemes,” Mansor adds.

The Worth of Three Generations: RM500

For Salehuddin b Abdul Manaf, 60 and his daughter Norhaslin, receiving RM500.00 as compensation for the land and home that their family have occupied for over 3 generations, was devastating.

The cheque, dated April 25, 2014 was subsequently returned to the issuer.

“I don’t even know the person who received the cheque on our behalf,” says Norhaslin who was made administrator to the property on the passing of her mother.

“We have occupied this land since the Forties and we had applied for and were given the right to occupy under a ‘temporary occupation license’, which we had diligently been renewing until 1998 when the land office concerned informed us that the license could no longer be renewed,” said Salehuddin because the land was to be transferred to a state government company for development.

“Under Schedule 5B, Section 434 of the National Land Code, we are entitled to compensation because we discovered through the Public Complaints Bureau that the property was transferred to a government linked company in 1997 while they still had a valid license to the property,” said Norhaslin.

Norhaslin Salehuddin (L). Salehuddin Abdul Manaf (R)

While the earlier transfer was to a GLC, the company that issued the RM500 compensation is totally different.
"But now, we don't know who the developers are," said Salehuddin.

“The RM500.00 is an unreasonable amount for compensation. It defies logic,” she continued.

On Oct 21, 2014 Norhaslin wrote to the land office expressing her objection to the compensation, saying that it was unreasonable. And on November 10, 2014 the Menteri Besar’s office wrote to the land office requesting for clarification. And this is where it stands currently.

It has been 17 years of frustration, going in and out of the land office pursuing what they feel is their right as citizens of Johor. But the state government seemingly wants to sweep them aside as ‘piece of nuisance’, favouring developers over the ‘small person’.

Clearly, there are property developments going on around the area approaching their former home; some are already completed – apartments and a hotel with other areas already boarded with hoarding and billboards advertising property developments that will soon alter the landscape of this once riverine village.

For now Salehuddin and his daughter will have to wait for the response by the land administer to the querry from the Menteri Besar’s office.

The property is located at Kampung Bakar Batu, Mukim Plentong, Johor Bahru.

July 5th, 2014: Lawyer and human rights activist, Fadiah Nadwa Fikri makes an impassioned speech for soup kitchens to stand up for the needy of the city against the KL municipality and Federal Territories ministry.


These two authorities seemed intent on criminalising not only the homeless and the beggars but also those who aid them. However, after a massive public outcry, the FT Ministry has delayed implementing their 'no beggars, no homeless' exclusion zone within 2 kilometres of the city centre.

Freedom Film Fest 2014: Zunar makes a movie!

Who knows Zulkiflee Anwar Haque? Family and friends most probably. But everyone worth his or her political salt or who is remotely political, apolitical or rabidly partisan and everyone in between must know Zunar, the irrepressible political cartoonist. The thorn in the side of Barisan leaders.





He has teamed up with business graduate turned social activist Michelle Hoo to do a film on his determination to be heard through his cartoons.

Mic is a business graduate of St Andrews University and was on her way to a doctorate when fate made a turn and she found herself back in Malaysia. But instead of pursuing a career in the corporate world, she dove head on into activism, composing a song for Bersih:




She has also produced voter education and many others. When asked why she wanted to do the video with Zunar she says she admires his determine to reveal the wrongs in the society.

They are one of three recipients of this year’s Freedom Film Fest Malaysia pitch.

Zunar is an Opposition cartoonist who makes a mockery of Barisan policies and their politicians. Firmly on his 'gun' sight are the so-called 'First Couple, Najib and Rosmah.

He is perhaps the only local cartoonist who has been arrested for his cartoons because he says, "Even my pen has a stand ..." and that is his underlying philosophy.

 

Home ministry officials and police raided his office to confiscate a book that was banned.

They take the book that was banned and arrested him.

Pakatan Welcomes Special Seating

Prime Minister Najib Razak has called for a special seating of Parliament this Wednesday July 22 to discuss the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in a disputed area of the Ukraine.

The aircraft was allegedly shot by a surface to air missile.

The Ukraine government and the separatist rebels are pointing fingers at each other, as to who fired the missile that brought down a passenger airliner on Thursday July 17 killing 298 passengers and crew.

Universiti Malaya's Best Kept Secret

Universiti Malaya has a secret and it's in the form of their Centre for Creative Content and Digital Innovation, Universiti Malaya or 3CDI for short. So what do they do? Listen to its Project Director (R&D), Khairulhazrin Hashim to tell you what the centre is all about.
Credits:
Images from 3CDI
Pua Kumbu video from Dream Weavers of Rumah Garie Longhouse

Tian Chua to Ku Nan: Come, let's sleep on the road!

July 5, 2014 Kuala Lumpur: In the wake of the plan by the Federal Territories Ministry to impose a 'no-soup-kitchen' within a 2 km radius of the city centre and to impose fines on both beggers and givers, the Dapur Jalanan soup kitchen with operates on Jalan Panggong here in Kuala Lumpur got together with over a 100 supporters to provide food to the homeless in the area.

At the location to lend support were Nik Nazmi the Pakatan Seri Setia Assemblyperson, Tian Chua, Pakatan MP for Batu, Maria Chin Abdullah, Bersih Chairperson and several other activists.

Nik Nazmi: Ministers are out of touch

July 5, 2014 Kuala Lumpur: Soup kitchen, Dapur Jalanan organised by youth group Kelab Bangsar Utama came out in full force with over a hundred volunteers and supporters in a show of solidarity with charity movements that feed the homeless and the destitute of Kuala Lumpur.

We met with Selangor State Assemblyperson, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad who was there to show his solidarity for the NGO, the homeless and destitute of the city. What does he feel about the plan by the Federal Territories ministry to have a 2 kilometre 'no soup kitchen and beggars' radius from the city centre?

Dapur Jalanan with Isham Rais

July 5, 2014 Kuala Lumpur: Soup kitchen, Dapur Jalanan organised by youth group Kelab Bangsar Utama came out in full force with over a hundred volunteers and supporters in a show of solidarity with charity movements that feed the homeless and the destitute of Kuala Lumpur.

We catch up with activist, Hishamuddin Rais for his take on the plan by the Federal Territories ministry to have a 2 kilometre 'no soup kitchen and beggars' radius from the city centre.

A religious lesson for 'Ku Nan'

Over a hundred volunteers and supporters turned up at Jalan Panggong near the iconic Petaling Street street market to show support and solidarity with Dapur Jalanan a weekly soup kitchen for the poor and homeless in the area.

Amongst them were Parliamentarian Tian Chua, Selangor Assembly Assemblyperson Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

The event today was an announcement by Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor to move the homeless and beggars from the city's streets and he has threatened to fine those who give money to beggars as well.

He has also put a ban of a radius of two kilometres from the city centre against soup kitchens from operating.

Pushing for the cause through Freedom Film Fest

We meet with Mohd Affandi Ramli or better known as Ronasina Fandi. Ronasina is a reversed combination of his children's name; An Nur and Annisa who were both born with Cerebral Palsy. Annisa has sadly passed away

Ronasina once a teacher, his wife Raja Rohaisham and their two daughters were usually present at street protests, such as anti-toll hike demonstrations.

The lack of support mechanism in the country for children with special needs resulted in Ronasina doing additional work to supplement his teacher's salary to care for his girls.

And this is also why he and his wife have thrown their support behind any protests or events that they feel add on to the burden of orginary citizens.

He has since left the teaching profession for a fulltime life as cartoonist, columnist, author and publisher.

Ronasina and Raja Rohaisham are both passionate about pushing the government to provide more support mechanisms for children with special needs. This is evident in his writings and activities.

Recenty he won a grant to produce a short film for this September's Freedom Film Fest about this very same issue.

Orang Seletar in Dire Straits

The Orang Seletar of southern Johor have been in dire straits for a long time, but especially since the government decided that a growth corridor was needed to spur development to the state that borders Singapore. The Iskandar development zone then came into being and large chunks of land, some reclaimed from the Straits of Johor, were parcelled out to property developers. Included in the parcelling were lands considered customary lands by the Orang Seletar, indeginous to the coastal plains of Johor and once, Singapore.

The Orang Seletar took out a lawsuit against the State Government of Johor, the Federal Government and property developers for damages on their lost of rights over what they claim to be their customary lands.

Court of Appeal dismissed the application by two developers to have the injunction against them squashed yesterday, giving the Orang Seletar of Kampung Sungai Temon and Bakar Batu in Danga Bay, Johor another win in the ongoing court case to secure their rights over their customary territories.

More at CJ.MY.

Zunar lancar kartun konspirasi

Kartunis terkenal Zunar mencabar ahli politik dan individu terkenal yang dinamakan dalam buku kartun terbarunya berkaitan kes pertuduhan liwat kedua terhadap Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim menyamannya jika fakta disampaikan tidak benar.

Katanya, beliau tidak  gentar didakwa di mahkamah Malaysia ekoran penerbitan buku barunya berjudul Komplot penjara Anwar: Najib jatuh hukum, hakim ikut skrip itu.

Cerita penuh di sini.

Pitching for Freedom

This year's

Freedom Film Fest sees a different format.

Five participants from 20 who submitted film ideas to Komas had to pitch to three industry personalities who then selected the final three.  The selected, get a grant of RM6,000.00  to produce their film.  

The three winners, Mohd Affandi, a writer and cartoonist and also known as Ronasina, filmmaker Azharr Rudin and political cartoonist,  Zunar will now have 3 months to produce their films which will be premiered at the Festival in September 2014 together with screenings of local and international films.

Reporting Chin Peng

Aidila-Reporting ChinPen from Shufiyan Shukur on Vimeo.

Malaysiakini's senior journalist, Aidila Razak talks about her experience when assigned to cover Chin Peng's funeral.

The Malayan Communist Party's sec-gen, Chin Peng - born Ong Boon Hua - died of cancer on Sept 16 at a Bangkok hospital at the age of 89.

The Malaysian government refused requests for his ashes to be brought back to his birthday place of Setiawan, Perak.

Celebrated as an anti-colonial on one side and reviled as a communist terrorist on the other, Chin Peng was the only communist not allowed to return to Malaysia after the peace accord in 1989.

Some of his comrades chose to return, while others decided life on the Thai side in the Peace Village was better.

Hudud 101

PAS has been attempting to impose Sharia criminal law ever since it captured the state of Kelantan. It has already passed a state enactment, but under the Federal Constitution, Sharia law has limitations; limited to family matters and crimes such as drinking alcohol in public. So now it is going through Parliament via a Private Members' Bill, but it may not be as simple as that.

Film Censorship Act has far reaching effects

April 28, 2014: Komas, the Human Rights popular communications centre handed a memorandum to the human rights commission, Suhakam over what they say is the persecution of Lena Hendry under the country's censorship law. Hendry works with Komas as its programme coordinator. She was charged for screening a documentary on the Sri Lanka civil war called No Fire Zone. Komas is requesting that Suhakam intervene to defend her rights and to check the unfettered powers of the home minister over film censorship. The Film Censorship Act 2002 they say is wide-ranging and covers even home movies. Hendry is the first human rights activist to be charged under the Act. Those who had been previously charged had been illegal VCD peddlers. Representatives from several Rights NGOs, lawyers and filmmakers accompanied Komas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ppVyc...

Capital TV celebrates 2nd anniversary

May 6 saw Capital TV celebrate their 2nd anniversary. The business channel available only on Unifi's Hypp TV features a very business-centric content with analysis, talk shows, live programming while not leaving out those who also want to consume world news, life-style and sports programme offerings. 

Highlighting the birthday bash were signings of memorandums with the Subang Municipality and sports car racing team, FX Primus Aylezo who compete in the Lamborghini Blancpain super Trofeo Asia Season. 

Signing for MPSJ was its president, Datuk Asmawi Kasbi and En Mohan, FXPrimus Aylezo's Team Principal.