Sungai Kelantan: A Story of an Agony  

Wan Izzuddin Sulaiman

The writer at the banks of the river Kwai, Thailand

Let us not forget that a river is an integral part of human life and his civilization. Many important milestones of human history occurred on the banks of rivers. The Euphrates, Tigris, Nile, Yangtze, Mekong, Thames, Rhine, Seine, Amazon and many other rivers have given rise to great cities and countries.

Even though Sungai Kelantan is not as great as these rivers, it is nevertheless the birthplace of a distinct sub-group of the ethnic Malay called Oghe Kelate (in local dialect), probably from around the 15^th or 16^th century.

Being a Kelantanese, I have fond memories of Sungai Kelantan and harbour deep emotional ties with it. The state of Kelantan has aptly derived its name from this river. Our identity as a people is intimately bonded to the river which is central to our geography, culture and history.

Sungai Kelantan is a unique river in South-east Asia since it is the only river known to flow northwards. All other rivers in this region flow southwards. The length of the river from the headwaters to the estuary is about 450 km and is fed by more than 180 streams with a catchment area of about 11,900 square kilometers. Sungai Kelantan’s main tributaries are Sungai Betis, Sungai Galas, Sungai Nenggiri and Sungai Lebir, passing through major towns and villages which were settled by my ancestors hundreds of years ago.

For many centuries Oghe Kelate have been deriving their sustenance and livelihood from Sungai Kelantan. It’s tributaries originates from what used to be lush and undisturbed tropical forests, an ecological paradise teeming with life and biodiversity. It’s flood plains used to support a fertile rice bowl and its sprawling delta were the natural habitats of fishes, prawns and mud crabs, palm groves, fruit trees – abundant resources  that supported a self-sufficient agrarian economy of the Kelantan river basin for hundreds of years.

Growing up in rural Kelantan in the 60’s was a real blessing to me. At the age of five our family moved to a remote village only accessible by boat, upstream from Kuala Krai. To me the image and the memory of the river was one of might and magnanimity, of life and sustenance, of water so clear, cool and fresh. We bathed, swam and played in the river. As children we were taught to collect tiny clams called etok from the river beds, a delicacy snack once sun-dried and slightly salted. We followed the adults at night to scoop the giant freshwater prawns udang galah from their nesting sites along the river banks. The Sungai Kelantan was once the centre of our life, our paradise, a place where life springs forth and thence blossoms. But, these were only memories of my river paradise. It is now forever lost.

Today, I dare not bring my children to the Sungai Kelantan for them to experience a glimpse of my youth. For the pristine and clean Sungai Kelantan is gone, its water turbid yellow with suspended soil particles, its banks soft and muddy, the river beds thick with mud and silt, and its etak and udang galah and ikan patin are no longer abundant. Seen from an aeroplane, the Kelantan River is a yellow band of line cutting across the green landscape. We used to refer this colour to the colour of our favourite drink “teh tarik”, but with the pungency of mud and silt. What is left of Sungai Kelantan is just a sight of shame and a burden of guilt.

The Big Yellow Muddy Flood of 2014

Decades of intensive clearing of jungles and forests in its watershed area upstream for the extraction of timber and for the cultivation of oil palm and rubber trees have caused an environmental catastrophe beyond anybody’s expectation. In a landmark study by Ambak and Zakaria in 2009, the investigators reported that nine major species of fish in the river was considered as critically endangered. Earlier studies in the early and mid 90s showed that the Kelantan river system was still rich in freshwater fishes, supporting a total of 55 species. 

Within one generation, the Sungai Kelantan’s ecosystem is practically dead, devoid of its lustre and vigour. The role of Sungai Kelantan in sustaining a living ecosystem, irrigating paddy fields, supplying drinking water, and freshwater fishes and prawns are no longer sustainable; its delta and estuaries turned shallow due to heavy siltation, the water pumps supplying municipal water frequently clog due to silts, and during dry spells the irrigation canals run dry due to blockages of mud and silt near the pump houses – a dear price paid in the name of development and progress.

 Gua Musang town submerged under water

Stadium Sultan Mohd IV surrounded by the yel;low flood

The “Great Yellow Flood” of December, 2014 came as no surprise. The ecological burden or “man-made” hazards harboured by the river ecosystem of Sungai Kelantan has been mounting for many decades. These man-made hazards conspired with the “natural hazards” of meteorological origins to cause the most unprecedented natural disaster in the modern history of our country. Hundreds of thousands of Kelantanese have to evacuate their homes, including my own family. Many have lost their houses, belongings, and source of livelihood.

As the carnage, rubbish and dust start to clear up, some state politicians are unfortunately still in deep denial mode. It is true that they have to sell their coveted tracts of jungles to plantation and mining companies to generate revenue to pay salaries and maintain the state’s coffers. But they should have not let these companies cut and ravaged the hills as they wish.  

A cursory visit to any of these development sites in Gua Musang and Kuala Krai districts will easily reveal the absence of any good environmental practice, particularly with regards to the management of top soil erosion and surface water run-off. Trees replanting program in these sites is hardly heard of.

The development of the flood plain in Kampong Sireh and the paddy fields of Tunjong, both involving massive embankment, reclamation and land-filling, have permanently changed the flow of flood water in the Kota Bharu district. Many home owners caught off-guarded because never in their living memory has the flood reached their safe havens.

The collaboration between the state and federal governments to jointly manage the reconstruction of flood stricken areas in Kelantan announced yesterday was a step in the right direction, hopefully not too late.

The federal government must bring in teams of multi-disciplinary experts to develop a long term plan to address the root causes of this ecological nightmare. Both the state and federal governments must realize that Islamic activism is void and meaningless without the much needed environmental activism. For what is the meaning of servitude to God if we neglected our divinely ordained duty to be his caliphate, to be the guardian of the earth, including its flora and fauna.  

The story of the Sungai Kelantan is that of melancholy and agony. It reminds me of the popular song Hijau by Zainal, the lyrics are partly in the Kelantanese dialect, reproduced below for the readers to sing along. Hijau is the colour green so passionately loved by many Kelantanese.

Dewasa ini kita saling merayakan
Kejayaan yang akhirnya membinasakan
Apalah gunanya kematangan fikiran
Bila di jiwa kita masih lagi muda dan mentah
Ku lihat hijau

Bumiku yang kian pudar
Siapa yang melihat
Di kala kita tersedar
Mungkinkah terlewat

Korupsi, oppressi, obsessi diri
Polussi, depressi di bumi kini

Oo... anok-anok
Tok leh meghaso mandi laok
Bersaing, main ghama-ghama

Ale lo ni tuo omornyo berjoto
Kito usoho jauh ke daghi malo petako

Ozon lo ni koho nipih nak nak aghi
Keno make asak hok biso, weh
Pase maknusio
Seghemo bendo-bendo di dunio
Tok leh tahe
Sapa bilo-bilo

The Singer (Zainal) and the Poet (Pak Samad) Photo credit: Kosmo Online

There is always an overwhelming desire to conquer nature and compelling economic reasons to exploit its resources, but in the process the value of the conqueror himself, who is man, is destroyed and his very existence threatened.