ISKANDAR PUTERI: Pulau Kukup, which triggered a controversy recently after its status as a National Park was dropped, will remain so.
This follows the consent of the Sultan Johor Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar to maintain the status quo.
Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian said the consent was given after his discussion with Sultan Ibrahim.
He said, during the discussion, Sultan Ibrahim also wanted the area to be looked after and supervised by the state government under the Johor National Park Corporation to turn it into a state tourism product.
“This shows Sultan Ibrahim’s concern on the importance of the mangrove forest there which acts as a natural wave-breaker and protects the biodiversity.
“As such, the issue need not be prolonged, seeing it is still a National Park in Johor,’’ he said.
He said this during the winding up session at the Johor State Assembly sitting here yesterday.
Osman stressed that the decision to drop the status of Pulau Kukup as a National Park prior to this was made by the State Executive Council at its meeting on March 7, this year, namely, when the Barisan Nasional (BN) government was running the state.
However, the outcome was only known to his administration when Pulau Kukup’s status as a national park was de-gazetted and reported by the media.
“Admittedly, I was shocked at the report especially when some friends in Pakatan Harapan accused the state government administration of approving the move, when in reality it happened during the past administration,’’ he said.
According to Osman, the change in the status was initally aimed at turning Pulau Kukup into Sultanate land to ensure the island would continue to be protected, and better off, but the anxiety of the people prompted them to petition the move to drop the status.
Subsequently, many quarters including Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) supreme council member Datuk A Kadir Jasin urged Osman to furnish an explanation – Bernama
