The culprit behind the Cameron Highlands mudslide – Sin Chew Daily

Source: The Malaysian Insider Published: 25 November 2014

Flash floods and landslides in Cameron Highlands early this month had claimed five lives. The government said illegal land and illegal foreign workers were the culprits of the disaster. The police and the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) were therefore ordered to deploy more personnel to Cameron Highlands and crack down on illegal nighttime exploitation activities.

And now, a large number of police has set up roadblocks to strictly inspect vehicles going up and down Cameron Highlands, while some also entered remote areas and forests to search illegal foreign workers. So far, 39 illegal foreign workers have been detained. The armed forces and Immigration officers also launched unprecedented search at vegetable farms, causing some legal foreign workers to be taken away and released only after their employers negotiated with the authorities the next day. The quiet atmosphere has suddenly turned tense, with illegal foreign workers fleeing, and even legal foreign workers are trying to avoid from being caught.

The need to clamp down on illegal foreign workers is understandable, but the law enforcement operations should avoid disturbing and affecting local residents. Farmers in Cameron Highlands have always been facing labour shortage problem. We do not encourage the employment of illegal foreign workers, but blindly launching a large-scale clampdown operation on foreign workers is undoubtedly a major blow to farmers who rely heavily on foreign workers, and it is even worse for those affected by floods. 

Cameron Highlands has been a famous highland resort known for its cool climate, scenery and pleasant natural environment. The outbreak of floods was extremely rare in the past but in recent years, floods struck during heavy rains, causing casualties and serious property damages. The originally dark green mountains have now become barren, showing that Cameron Highlands has been over-exploited and deforested.

The government blames illegal exploitation activities for causing the flash floods and it is indeed the case. However, the culprit is not the employed and instructed illegal foreign workers, but the backstage manipulators who used relationships to illegally appropriate the land and launched massive exploitation activities. Various drawbacks like business-government collusion, power intervention and abuse of power have been involved in the process of turning illegal exploitation into legal development. And these are the bane of the disaster in Cameron Highlands.

If the government had frozen the issuance of temporary lease since 2001, but exploitation projects have still been going on in the recent two years, it shows that officers responsible for approving temporary lease have enjoyed too much power and involved in dereliction of duty. There are also doubts over honesty and integrity. Since the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) received reports regarding illegal land appropriation in Cameron Highlands, it should then start investigating, instead of passively waiting for someone to provide sufficient information.

All in all, to tackle illegal exploitation, it should get back to the abuse of power and business-government collusion problems. Focusing on illegal foreign workers while letting the backstage manipulators go free would not be able to once and for all solve the problem. – mysinchew.com, November 25, 2014.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.