KUALA LUMPUR – Two environmental groups are raising funds to appeal to the Federal Court against the dismissal of their judicial review to save part of Bukit Cerakah in Shah Alam from losing its status as a permanent forest reserve.
The Shah Alam Community Forest Society (SACF) and Pertubuhan Pelindung Khazanah Alam Malaysia say they need RM60,000 to pursue their appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss their judicial review.
“We believe that this patch of regenerating ancient forest is worth saving for our future generations… We need your help to cover the legal cost,” SACF said on Facebook and X today.
As of February 29, the groups have raised RM43,725.99, its posts said.
On January 24, the two non-governmental organisations failed in their attempt to obtain leave to commence a judicial review against the Selangor government’s decision to degazette a part of Bukit Cerakah from its status as a permanent forest reserve.
The appellate court upheld the high court’s earlier decision on November 17, 2022, to dismiss the groups’ leave application on grounds that it was submitted late, or out of time, long after the stipulated three months from the date the decision to degazette part of the forest was announced.
The state’s decision to degazette part of the Bukit Cerakah forest reserve and alienate it to nine companies was made on November 20, 2000, more than 20 years before the groups filed their application for leave for the judicial review.
The appellate court also ruled that the decision to degazette part of the forest reserve was a policy decision by the state government that the courts had no jurisdiction over.
In their leave application to the high court, the two NGOs had claimed the state government had backdated the degazettement to 2000, as the gazette was only published 22 years later, on May 5, 2022.
The groups contended that this was illegal in their judicial review application, which named the Selangor government, state executive council, state Forestry Department director, the Petaling Land and Mines Department and several companies as respondents.
The groups say that the Shah Alam Community Forest – a popular hiking place for Klang Valley residents – is an important part of Bukit Cerakah that forms a wildlife corridor between the northern forest, which is a water catchment area for the Tasik Subang Dam, and the Shah Alam National Botanical Gardens in the south. – March 10, 2024