A second national park for peninsular Malaysia? the endau-rompin controversy

Biological Conservation 29 (1984) 253-276

A Second National Park for Peninsular Malaysia? The Endau-Rompin Controversy

S. Robert Aiken

Department of Geography at Concordia University, 1455 de Maisonneuve Blvd W, Montreal, Quebec H3G 1M8, Canada

&

Colin H. Leigh

PO Box 113, Forest Hill, Victoria 3131, Australia

ABSTRACT

A second national park for Peninsular Malaysia was proposed in 1972 but has not yet been formally established. Situated astride the Pahang-Johor State boundary and to be known as the Endau-Rompin National Park, the proposed conservation area would protect one of the last remaining extensive tracts of tropical rain forest in the southern part of the Peninsula. The logging of part of the core area of the proposedpark in 1977 resulted in widespread public protest and the emergence of a campaign to save Endau-Rompin. The complex controversy surrounding the fate of the area is discussed in the context of mounting competition for dwindling natural resources, public environmental awareness and a political system in which the Federal Government and the State Governments have different powers, responsibilities and interests.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

The great tropical rain forests of Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia are vanishing at an alarming rate (Sommer, 1976; Grainger, 1980;

253 Biol. Conserv. 0006-3207/84/$03.00 © Elsevier Applied Science Publishers Ltd, England, 1984. Printed in Great Britain

254 S. Robert Aiken, Colin H. Leigh

Myers, 1980). Though estimates of the speed of forest conversion vary considerably, one widely quoted source suggests that 1"2~o of the remaining forests, or about 11 million ha, disappears each year (Sommer, 1976). What effect the removal of the rain forest will have on global climatic patterns is not known, but it could be substantial (Newell, 1971 ; Potter et al., 1975; Woodwell et al., 1978). Much clearer is the fact that many species of living things are being eradicated each year and that man's natural heritage is thereby being impoverished (Poore, 1976; Myers, 1979).

The lowland rain forests that straddle the equator in Southeast Asia are extremely rich and complex. In Peninsular Malaysia alone there are an estimated 7900 species of flowering plants, at least 2000 species of trees, 199 species of mammals, over 450 species of birds and some 150000 species of insects, among a plethora of other living things (Medway, 1969; Weber, 1972; Whitmore, 1975; Wells, 1976; Lee, 1980). This remarkable diversity of life forms is characteristic especially of the lowlands, where it is supported by abundant inputs of solar energy and moisture.

Since independence in 1957 the pace of forest clearance for agriculture in the Peninsula has been both rapid and sustained. Of the total land area of 13.1 million ha, only some 7.2 million ha remained forested in 1977, and of this area only 1.8 million ha was classed as virgin forest (Anon., 1979; Arshad Ayub, 1979). Ongoing forest clearance associated with a number of large-scale regional land development schemes will further reduce the area under forest, and by 1990 nothing may remain of the lowland rain forests of the Peninsula (Marshall, 1973; Ministry of Finance, Malaysia, 1977).

In recent decades the use of heavier and more sophisticated machinery has greatly facilitated logging and large-scale land clearance operations. Land development schemes, formerly confined primarily to the west coast lowlands, are now characteristic features of the landscape east and south of the Main Range, where huge areas have been cleared, or are in the process of being cleared, in the States of Trengganu, Pahang and Johor (Bahrin & Perera, 1977; Government of Malaysia, 1976, 1981).

Land development and selective logging operations have resulted in a widening range of environmental problems: among these are increased soil erosion, river siltation and flooding; the pollution of riverine, estuarine and near-shore waters by agricultural chemicals; a reduction in wildlife numbers, especially of large land mammals that require extensive territories, such as the elephant, tiger, seladang and rhinoceros; and the

Endau-Rompin N.P. in Malaysia 255

endangering of rare plant species of potential scientific, medical, agricultural, industrial and intrinsic value (Soepadmo & Singh, 1973; Aiken & Moss, 1975; Lee, 1980).

By the early 1970s the adverse environmental effects of rapid development in the post-independence period were of growing concern to a small but increasing number of academics, enlightened Government officials and nature lovers. In 1970 the Malayan Nature Society (1971) issued a brief public statement on the case for conservation, prompted partly by a rumour that Taman Negara, Peninsular Malaysia's only national park, might be opened up to logging. Even more alarming was the National Electricity Board's 1971 proposal for a multi-purpose dam on the Tembeling River, which forms the southeastern boundary of Taman Negara.

The mounting pessimism about the future of Peninsular Malaysia's natural heritage was mollified somewhat, although temporarily as it transpired, by the announcement in 1972 that the Federal Government and the State Governments of Johor and Pahang proposed to create a second national park in the Peninsula. It was suggested that the park would cover some 202 345 ha astride the Johor- Pahang State boundary, and would be known as the Endau-Rompin National Park (Fig. 1). A decade later, very largely because of the intransigence of the Pahang Government, the park has still not been gazetted.

This paper outlines the sequence of events which followed the proposal for a national park in the Endau-Rompin area. It provides an illuminating case study within the general theme of development and conservation, and illustrates, at a relatively local scale, the potential for conflict between competing land uses or forms of development. Competition of this kind can be expected to intensify in the future and will need to be resolved by careful planning and management.

The Endau-Rompin story also furnishes evidence of the latent importance of broadly based public protest on conservation issues in developing countries. In the Malaysian context, societies such as the Malayan Nature Society have played a significant role over a relatively long period of time in encouraging discussion of environmental issues, in providing an avenue for the publication of relevant scientific information, and in promoting public awareness through press statements and by extending membership within schools and universities (Leigh & Low, 1976). Yet even as late as 1976, the President of the Consumers' Association of Penang considered that the conservation movement was


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Fig. 1. Peninsular Malaysia: the location of the proposed Endau-Rompin National Park.

too much the domain of the educated elite, and suggested that little attempt had been made to draw support from the general public (Mohd. Idris, 1976). The Endau-Rompin controversy changed this situation somewhat, because in the campaign to save the region considerable public support for conservation does appear to have been effectively mobilised.

As a case study of a conservation issue in a developing country, the story of Endau-Rompin is particularly revealing of the attitudes and roles of Government authorities. The context of the Endau-Rompin controversy is that of a Federal system of Government, the Federal


Government and the individual State Governments having different powers, responsibilities and interests. Under the Malaysian Constitution, legislative and executive powers for matters relating to agriculture, forestry, land and water rest with the State Governments; the Federal Government's powers with respect to such subjects are limited (Suffian, 1976). The Constitution also specifies the revenue assigned to the States, this including, among other things, all revenue collected, levied or raised within a State from land and timber. The role of the timber lobby in State politics and the importance of timber as a source of State revenue, but above all else, the relations between the Federal Government and State Governments on land matters, emerge as critical factors in the Endau-Rompin story.

On the subjects of national parks and the protection of wildlife, both the Federal Government and the State Governments have legislative and executive powers. A Federal National Parks Act was drafted in the late 1960s, but was opposed by the States of Pahang and Perak, and was not proclaimed until February 1980. In the period of the Endau-Rompin controversy, therefore, there was no Federal legislation pertaining to national parks. The existing national park in Peninsular Malaysia, and those in East Malaysia, were established by, and are managed under the provisions of, State legislation.

THE E N D A U - R O M P I N REGION

The proposed Endau-Rompin park embraces the entire upper part of the Endau River basin and headwaters of the Pukin River, a tributary of the Rompin River (Fig. 2). The granitic and sedimentary rocks of the park area (Geological Survey of Malaysia, 1973) have been moulded into a diverse landscape of riverine lowlands, dissected plateaux and isolated mountain peaks. The highest peak in the area, Gunung Besar, rises to 1036 m above sea level. When current agricultural development schemes have been fully implemented in Pahang and Johor, Endau-Rompin will be the only remaining extensive tract of largely undisturbed lowland rain forest in the southern part of the Peninsula, and the last refuge of some of the most threatened animal species in the region, among them the Sumatran rhinoceros Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, the seladang or Malayan gaur Bos gaurus hubbacki and the tiger Panthera tigris, three of the world's rarest mammals.


K i l o m e t r e a

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Fig. 2. The Endau-Rompin region.

Prior to the 1950s, the Endau-Rompin region was protected by its remoteness and inaccessibility. Located in the southeastern part of the Peninsula, it escaped the ma in thrust of economic development and modernisation which was firmly centred, as indeed it still is, on the west coast lowlands. In the 1930s, mainly because of the interest of the late Sultan Ibrahim of Johor, a distinguished hunter turned conservationist, a Wildlife Reserve and a Wildlife Sanctuary were created in the Johor


section of the Endau-Rompin area (Stevens, 1968). The Endau-Kluang Wildlife Reserve, in the upper Endau River catchment, was gazetted in 1933, and in 1937 an adjacent reserve, the Segamat Wildlife Sanctuary, was established to protect a large herd of seladang in the vicinity of the Segamat River. On the Pahang side of the border, most of the area embraced by the upper reaches of the Jamai, Kemapan and Kinchin rivers, all three of which lie entirely within the proposed park area (Fig. 2), was included in the Lesong Forest Reserve, established in 1906 (Rahman- Ali, 1968; Flynn, 1980).

Since the 1950s, however, these and other reserves in the greater Endau-Rompin region have come under increasing pressure from logging and land development projects: they have, like so many other reserves in the Peninsula, suffered the fate of encroachment. By the mid- 1960s most of the Segamat Wildlife Sanctuary had been excised for agricultural development, while logging was continuing apace in the Endau-Kluang Reserve. These intrusions were so extensive that Stevens, in his 1968 report on the status of conservation in the Peninsula, suggested that the Segamat Reserve should be totally de-gazetted, and that the already logged-over areas in Endau-Kluang should be excluded from the Reserve. On the other hand, Stevens (1968) also recommended that the adjusted boundaries of Endau-Kluang should be greatly extended to take in the entire upper catchment area of the Endau River. As Flynn (1980) has observed, this 'proposed expansion included 260 km 2 of hilly land in the adjacent state of Pahang for a total reserve area of about 780 km 2'. Stevens' far-sighted recommendation, although never fully implemented, foreshadowed the more recent proposals for a national park in the Endau-Rompin region.

In the 1970s a number of large-scale regional land development schemes were initiated in the relatively undeveloped east coast States. One of these schemes, Pahang Tenggara (in southeast Pahang), adjoins the Endau-Rompin area. The 1972 masterplan for the region envisages a population of 500 000 by 1990, the target date for the completion of the project (Foundation of Canada Engineering Corporation, 1972). Of a total area of 1.03 million ha set aside for the scheme, some 254 140 ha are scheduled specifically for agricultural development. The Pahang Tenggara Masterplan recognised that the Endau-Rompin area con- stitutes an important conservation area and recommended that it be retained as a nature reserve free of logging and agricultural development.

In 1972 a joint Federal-State committee was formed under the auspices


of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to consider the future of the Endau-Rompin region. The committee recommended that 'the area be designated as a national park in order to preserve in perpetuity a unique and beautiful part of the country for the use and enjoyment of future generations of Malaysians' (as cited by Flynn, 1980). After further discussion in 1972 and 1973, in this case under the auspices of the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister's Department, the committee's proposal was incorporated into the Third Malaysia Plan.

Under the Plan (Government of Malaysia, 1976), Endau-Rompin is designated as a multi-purpose national park. Of the total area of 202 343 ha, sustained-yield logging would be restricted to a 110480ha 'buffer zone' from which agriculture would be excluded, while the remaining 91 865 ha (52 610 ha in Johor and 39 355 ha in Pahang)would constitute an inviolate nature reserve, or 'core area' (Government of Malaysia, 1976; Furtado, 1978). In the light of future events, it is important to note that the Pahang State Government apparently agreed (there is no available evidence to the contrary) to the creation of the Endau-Rompin national park, and that it agreed, further, to approve a specific tract of land for the core area.

The Endau-Rompin proposals assumed greatly increased significance in early 1977 when the Federal Game Department (known since August 1977 as the Department of Wildlife and National Parks) announced that there was a herd of between eight and 14 Sumatran rhinoceroses, including one baby, living in the area. Later that year, an IUCN expert suggested that the Endau-Rompin herd represented one of the largest concentrations of the species in the world, and possibly the one with the highest chance of survival if left undisturbed (New Straits Times, 11 August 1977).

LOGGING AND PUBLIC PROTEST

In early 1977 the Pahang State Government, to the dismay of conservationists, granted logging concessions in its section of the core area of the proposed park to a number of companies and individuals. The public in general first became aware of the threat to the proposed national park in early May when six societies (Malayan Nature Society, World Wildlife Fund Malaysia, Malaysian Zoological Society, National Geographical Association of Malaysia, Malaysian Society of Marine


Sciences, Malaysian Forestry Society) placed a half-page advertisement in the New Straits Times, Malaysia's leading daily English-language newspaper (New Straits Times, 7 May 1977). The advertisement gave details of the nature of the proposed park and its wildlife, stressed the importance of preserving the area and of not allowing logging to take place in the core area, and made the following plea:

The undersigned organisations, representing a considerable body of professional and lay opinion on environmental matters in Malaysia, issue this public appeal to the good sense and wisdom of the Federal and State authorities concerned and to the public spiritedness of those individuals involved not to be blinded by attractive short-term gain but to work for the declaration of Taman Endau-Rompin as conceived in the Third Malaysia Plan without further delay. An important slice of original Malaysia, precious to the nation, is at stake.

The eye-catching advertisement, which was the first of its kind in a Malaysian newspaper, attracted considerable attention and triggered a storm of public protest. During the weeks immediately following the placement of the advertisement, feature articles on the issue containing interviews with representatives from conservation groups were run in the newspapers (New Sunday Times, 5 June 1977; New Straits Times, 13 June 1977); letters to the editor, one backed by 165 signatories, were printed (New Straits Times, 19 May 1977); and the New Straits Times featured the topic in an editorial, concluding that ' . . . the essentially short-term objectives (and profits) of the State should not endanger the long-term interests of the country and its people. A compromise must be found' (New Straits Times, 10 May 1977).

The newspapers also sought the opinions of Government officials on the Endau-Rompin issue. It was reported, for example, that the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment was strongly opposed to the logging (New Straits Times, 9 May 1977). A senior officer informed the press that 'We are persuading the State Government to reconsider its stand and are not without hope that wise counsel will prevail' (New Straits Times, 20 June 1977). The Ministry felt, however, that for constitutional reasons it could not directly intervene, one officer stating 'We had an informal agreement to leave the core area undisturbed but the Pahang Government has changed its mind. Land is a state matter and we cannot interfere' (New Straits Times, 9 May 1977).


Unfortunately, wise counsel did not prevail and the logging continued. According to one report the loggers 'stepped-up' production, fearful that their licences might be revoked (New Straits Times, 4 July 1977). The Pahang State Government heeded neither the public protests nor the exhortations of the Federal Government. One of the letters to the press quoted the Pahang State Secretary as having said that 'When it comes to choosing between human welfare and animal survival, the State has to opt for the former' (New Straits Times, 19 May 1977), while an editorial reported that the State had no objections to the creation of a national park in the area as long as it was fully exploited for its economic potential first (New Sunday Times, 22 May 1977).

The Endau-Rompin issue was raised in the Dewan Rakyat (the Federal House of Representatives) in late July 1977. The Minister of Science, Technology and Environment stated that his Ministry was making every effort to provide the State Governments with information outlining why certain areas, and particularly Endau-Rompin, should be conserved and not be 'subject to short-term requirements of individual state governments' (New Straits Times, 20 July 1977). The Pahang Government, however, remained unmoved.

As a result of the Pahang State Government's intransigence, public protest was renewed with vigour and a 'Save Endau-Rompin National Park' campaign was launched, using the rhinoceros as a symbol. In early August, a very long letter from the Council of the Malayan Nature Society was published in the New Straits Times (8 August 1977). In addition to reiterating the reasons why it was imperative that the core area should be left as an inviolate reserve, the letter contained a cost-benefit analysis showing that the logging operations would provide relatively few jobs for a short period of time and that profits would go to only a few people. The Council concluded:

that as far as can be ascertained or estimated the logging of the forests within the proposed E ndau-Rompin National Park is both unwise and undesirable, from both the ecological viewpoint, and from any broad-based economic standpoint.

The stand taken by the Council of the Malaysian Nature Society was fully endorsed by the regional branches of the Society. Petitions were organised and one branch alone forwarded more than 5500 signatures to the Pahang Government (New Straits Times, 2 September 1977).

The new campaign spearheaded by the Malayan Nature Society had


the clear support of other conservation groups and scientific societies: the Environmental Protection Society of Selangor (now the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia) organised a public meeting which was well attended, and a resolution was adopted calling upon the Pahang State Government, the Sultan of Pahang and the Federal Government to take action to halt the logging (Environmental Protection Society of Selangor, 1977); and the Malaysian Scientific Association prepared a well-documented paper on the issue (Furtado, 1978) which was submitted to the Federal Government through the Science Council. By this stage, however, support for the cause of Endau-Rompin had become much more broadly based, with protests forthcoming from, for example, graduate societies and chambers of commerce, and from the influential youth wing of the United Malays National Organisation, one of the main political parties in the country (New Straits Times, 2&8 September 1977). The issue also attracted international attention, the IUCN making a plea in its Bulletin for the preservation of Endau-Rompin and the protection of its wildlife (as cited in New Straits Times, 20 August 1977).

Logging continued in the Pahang section of the core area of the proposed park throughout the latter half of 1977, but the intensity of the 'Save Endau-Rompin National Park' campaign and the uncompromis- ing attitude of the Federal Government persuaded the Pahang State Government to rethink its stand. In early 1978, it gave an assurance that no additional licences would be issued and that those already granted would not be renewed when they expired in August 1978 (New Straits Times, 2 September 1978). The State Government kept its word and logging in the core area duly ceased. A significant and unprecedented victory had apparently been won by the conservation lobby. Four years later, however, the Endau-Rompin national park had still not been gazetted.

THE ENDAU-ROMPIN MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Department of Wildlife and National Parks (formerly the Game Department), presumably working under the assumption that a national park would be formally established in the Endau-Rompin area during the Third Malaysia Plan period (1976-1980), engaged an American expert, R.W. Flynn, to prepare a preliminary management plan. The plan, which was completed in 1980 (Flynn, 1980), examined four related

264 S. Robert A iken, Colin H. Leigh

themes: resource management, visitor use and development, administration and stalling requirements, and research. It placed particular emphasis on resource management, this being quite justifiable, given that the primary purpose of the park is to protect the area's natural environment in perpetuity.

Within the theme of resource management, Flynn devoted considerable attention to the question of the park's boundaries. It was recognised that there is a direct relationship between the area occupied by a natural system and the number of species supported by it, and that the diversity of species in a reserve will suffer from the effects of both long-term and short- term insularisation. Elsewhere Furtado (1978) has suggested that the size of the proposed park may be inadequate 'for the normal function and maintenance of the ecosystems, and the species and genetic diversity it contains'. The critical importance of size is also related to the status of the buffer zone of permanent forest reserve, in which sustained-yield logging will be permitted. Indeed, Flynn was at some pains to suggest that the park area should be extended; he noted that this was particularly important if the habitats of the Sumatran rhinoceros along the western border of the park (in Johor) and in the upper Pukin River area (in Pahang) were to be protected.

The management plan called for a broad, fourfold zonation of the park, subject to further refinement (Fig. 3). The first of these zones, designated a 'strict natural area', would embrace the drainage basins of the Segamat, Tenang, Juaseh, Kemidak and Selai rivers and most of the upper Endau basin. Designed to protect the wildlife of the area-- especially the sensitive rhino--this zone would be free of all forms of exploitation. A second zone covering most of the area north of the Endau and Jemai rivers and south of the proposed park headquarters (Fig. 3) was referred to as a 'wilderness recreation area'. Within this 'primitive area' low-density tourism would be permitted, but no roads, motorised vehicles, or man-made structures would be allowed. A tract of land in the vicinity of the Endau River, parts of which have been logged under licences issued about 20 years ago, was zoned as a 'managed natural area'. This zone, which surrounds the park headquarters, will be given over to habitat improvement and rehabilitation and to visitor activities. Finally, the main facilities for visitors and administrators and the park headquarters will all be concentrated in an 'intensive use area' (Fig. 3).

The rhinoceros, seladang, elephant and tiger are the most threatened animal species in Endau-Rompin. Like so many other living things in the


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Peninsula, they are increasingly endangered by habitat destruction. The management plan called attention to the plight of these large land mammals and made a plea for their preservation through monitored wildlife management.

Flynn made a number of proposals for visitor and staff facilities, but was particularly concerned that the impact of human activities on the park should be kept to a minimum. It was suggested that several research stations be established, one of these specifically for the study of the Sumatran rhinoceros. Flynn considered that an important research priority should be to draw up an inventory of the natural resource base of the area. He also suggested that comprehensive information about the behaviour and habitat requirements of endangered animal species should be compiled, and that it will be necessary to evaluate the response of the species to planned habitat improvement schemes.

THE NATIONAL PARKS ACT, 1980

The proclamation of the Federal National Parks Act (Laws of Malaysia Act. No. 226) in 1980, some 11 years after it had first been drafted, would appear to represent a significant achievement for conservation in Peninsular Malaysia. However, the proclamation of the Act was not an essential prerequisite for the creation of a national park in the Endau-Rompin region. Had the Pahang and Johor State Governments been wholly committed to the concept of an Endau-Rompin national park, the park could have been established and managed through State legislation enacted by them.

The National Parks Act is important because it provides a formal legislative framework for the creation and management of national parks in Peninsular Malaysia. (It does not apply to Sabah and Sarawak, nor to Taman Negara.) The purpose of national parks, according to the Act,

is the preservation and protection of wild life, plant life and objects of geological, archaeological, historical and ethnological and other scientific and scenic interest and through their conservation and utilization to promote the education, health, aesthetic values and recreation of the people.

The Act stipulates that a State authority may, on the request of the appropriate Federal Minister, reserve any State land (including any


marine area) for the purpose of a national park, and that the reservation of any such area or part thereof under the Act cannot be subsequently revoked by the State authority except with the written concurrence of the Federal Minister. The Director-General of the Department of Wild Life and National Parks is responsible for carrying out the provisions of the Act, and for the general supervision and direction of all matters relating to national parks.

Provision is made under the Act for the establishment of a National Parks Advisory Council, its task being to

advise the Minister on matters relating to the conservation, utilization, care, control, management and development of National Parks and such other matters as the Minister may from time to time refer to it.

In addition, the Minister is empowered to appoint a committee for the general management and development of each national park, and empowered also to make regulations on a broad range of issues pertaining to the control and management of such parks.

It is the generally held view of the State Governments, however, that the Act is 'too rigid' (Mohd. Khan, pers. comm.). What this probably means is that the State authorities are loath to surrender their control over any State land; they would prefer to retain the right to de-gazette any future national park should, in their view, the need arise. But it could be argued that national parks are of national importance and their significance should therefore transcend the interests of a particular State or States. Section 3(3) of the Act, which requires the Federal Minister's written consent to the revocation of a reserved area, will be crucial if new national parks are to have any hope of permanency.

It has been suggested that one way to gain approval from the States for national parks would be to compensate them for lands 'lost' to development (Mohd. Khan, pers. comm.). Should this option be pursued, it will be important to link it with Section 3(3) of the Act.

THE E N D A U - R O M P I N STORY IN RETROSPECT

The successive phases in the move to establish a national park in the Endau-Rompin region--the initial Federal-State agreement proposing a national park; the unilateral action of the Pahang State Government in

268 S. Robert A iken, Colin H. Leigh

issuing logging licences; the opposition of the Federal Government and the general public which resulted in the cessation of logging; the publication of a park management plan and the proclamation of a federal National Parks Act; and finally, the present unresolved status of the Endau-Rompin area--form a complex story spanning more than a decade. It is a story which to a considerable degree reflects the evolving attitudes of the public and of Government authorities on environmental issues during the 1970s. Significantly, the controversy over logging in Endau-Rompin occurred at a time when public environmental awareness had reached a level previously unattained, and when Federal Government concern for the Malaysian environment was at a peak.

In Malaysia, the early to mid-1970s witnessed the formation of groups such as the Consumers" Association of Penang, the Environmental Protection Society of Selangor and the Friends of the Earth Malaysia, all essentially citizens' groups concerned by the deterioration o f the Malaysian environment. The activities of these groups, together with those of such long-established societies as the Malayan Nature Society, were important in drawing attention to specific issues, in promoting discussion, and in helping to create, within certain sectors of the community, a climate of opinion sympathetic to conservation. Beyond this, there would appear to have been a more general groundswell of individual concern. In 1975-76, for example, the newly formed Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment received over 3000 complaints from members of the public on environmental problems (Mohd. Idris, 1976).

There was, therefore, a fairly receptive audience when the Malayan Nature Society and other scientific societies drew attention to the logging activities in the core area of the proposed national park. In the ensuing debate, the newspapers assumed an important role in providing a vehicle for the dissemination of information on the issues involved, and in publicising the views of the protest movement. This may have reflected the concern and commitment of the editors and journalists themselves, but it may also have been a direct response to the high level of public interest in the controversy. The wide newspaper coverage of the debate in turn helped to promote a broader and more effective basis of support for the 'Save Endau-Rompin ' campaign. It also probably did much to further the cause of conservation generally, for as one newspaper editorial commented: 'The only long-term gain from the Endau-Rompin logging controversy has been a considerably heightened awareness of the

Endau-Rornpin N.P. in Malaysia 269

dangers . . , posed by the felling of our forests' (New Straits Times, 18 November 1977).

In the mid-1970s, the Federal Government appears to have been in sympathy with the mood of public concern for the environment. In 1974, it introduced the Environmental Quality Act (Laws of Malaysia Act. No. 127), and the following year a Division of the Environment was established within the newly formed Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment. Even more significant from the point of view of the present paper was the inclusion of a chapter entitled 'Development and the Environment' in the Third Malaysia Plan (Government of Malaysia, 1976). In this it was seen as 'vital that the objectives of development and environmental conservation be kept in balance, so that the benefits of development are not negated by the costs of environmental damage'. It was noted that land and resource development had led to a number of contemporary environmental problems, among them the steady de- pletion of natural forest habitats. The Plan suggested that

The preservation of representative samples of Malaysia's natural forest ecosystems with its constituent flora and fauna is therefore particularly important. They are not only part of the national heritage but are also part of the world heritage.

In line with this philosophy, the establishment of 23 new parks, nature reserves, nature monuments and wildlife sanctuaries was proposed under the Plan, one of these being the Endau-Rompin national park. In the subsequent controversy over logging in the core area of the park, the Federal Government maintained steadfast opposition to the Pahang Government's actions.

The generally conservative State Governments (Esman, 1972) have tended to view development and conservation as antithetical goals. This stance is reflected in the history of wildlife and forest reserve excisements, and in recent resistance to the creation of new conservation areas. State Government policies on land and resources have often been dictated by short-term political and financial expediency. In the timber-rich States, such as Perak and Pahang, the forests represent an important source of State revenue; it is estimated, for example, that the Pahang State Government received M$3 million in premiums and taxes from the logging operations in the Endau-Rompin core area (New Straits Times, 5 August 1978). Moreover, because of their control over land and timber the Chief Ministers of the States wield considerable power and are in a


position to dispense patronage. Thus, for example, when the Berjaya political party assumed office in Sabah in 1976 after defeating the United Sabah National Organisation, one of its first actions was to revoke the existing timber concessions and to distribute them among its own supporters (Business Times, 12 November 1977). The Pahang State Government's prolonged opposition to the Federal National Parks Act, its action in issuing licences for the logging of the core area of Endau-Rompin, and its apparent reluctance to stop the logging in the face of public and Federal Government opposition, all suggest that it was probably never strongly committed to the concept of an Endau-Rompin national park, and this in spite of its initial agreement to the proposals.

It is difficult to determine the extent to which the Pahang State Government's decision to stop the logging in Endau-Rompin was a response to public protest and the extent to which it was influenced by the pressure exerted by the Federal Government. It seems likely, however, that public opposition was a critical factor. In a somewhat similar case in Perak, in which the issue involved was national security rather than conservation, pressure from the Federal armed forces for a suspension of logging activities to enable an area to be cleared of guerilla units was, on its own, ineffective. In this case the State Government failed to respond to Federal pressure (Business Times, 12 November 1977).

The 'Save Endau-Rompin ' campaign would appear to have established public opinion and protest as an effective force in conservation in Malaysia. In early 1982, the National Electricity Board renewed its proposal for a dam on the Tembeling River bordering Taman Negara, a project which had been shelved indefinitely in 1978. The Federal Government's initial determination to proceed with the construction of the dam faltered in the face of a vigorous protest campaign organised by environmental societies and Christian and Islamic youth groups, and supported by a range of other organisations including the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, the Malaysian Association of Engineers and the influential Consumers' Association of Penang. By early 1983, when the Federal Government announced its decision to abandon the Tembeling project completely, the campaign to save Taman Negara had gained the support of an estimated 100 000 Malaysians (The Age, 3 February 1983).

The role of public opinion on environmental issues in Malaysia does, however, ultimately depend on the extent to which the Malaysian Government, conscious as it always is of the need for economic development, is prepared to tolerate vociferous protest over the


consequences of environmental change. In this regard the 1981 amendments to the Societies Act (Laws of Malaysia Act. A515, Societies (Amendment) Act, 1981) are highly relevant. The amending Act requires all non-Government organisations to register as political parties, political societies or friendship societies, with only the first two having the right to comment on Government policies. It has not yet been applied in any way to non-Government organisations concerned with the environment, but there is a feeling that it is being held in abeyance and might be used by the Government to stifle protest on environmental issues (Ziauddin Sardar, 1981; Anon., 1982). One Malaysian observer has commented that already the amendment ' . . . has somewhat dampened the spirit of the NGOs [non-Government organisations]' (Anon, 1982).

While not underestimating the role of public protest in stopping the logging of the core area, this represents but one phase in the saga of Endau-Rompin. The underlying conflict in the story as a whole derives from the relations between the Federal Government and the State Governments, and from differences in their attitudes and powers, particularly their powers with regard to land. Under the provisions of the National Land Code (Laws of Malaysia Act. No. 56 of 1965) all State land vests in the ruler or governor of the State concerned, who has the powers of disposal of such land and the rights in reversion over alienated land. Land may be reserved in a State for Federal purposes on terms and conditions agreed between the Federal and State Governments, but in practice the States have generally been reluctant to do this (Suffian, 1976). It is significant, however, that the Constitution does contain provisions to enable the Federal Government to obtain land for its use: Article 83, for example, empowers the Federal Government to acquire State land in perpetuity and without restrictions as to its use, if it is deemed in the national interest to do so. In this situation the Federal Government is required to pay certain rents and premiums to the State concerned.

Such is the sensitive nature of relations between Federal and State Governments that it is doubtful whether the possibility of invoking Article 83 would ever have been seriously considered, even at the height of the controversy over logging in the core area of Endau-Rompin. There can be little doubt that such a course of action would have precipitated a constitutional crisis. Because of its reluctance to intervene directly in the issue of a national park in Endau-Rompin, the Federal Government has remained dependent on State co-operation and consent.

The Pahang State Government's continued and determined opposition


to an Endau-Rompin park is an obvious ingredient in the apparent stalemate reached by the early 1980s. The proclamation of the National Parks Act in 1980 may indicate that the States of Perak and Pahang relented somewhat in their opposition to the Act, but the atmosphere has remained one of State dissent over the creation of national parks, the State Governments being loath to relinquish ultimate control over their land.

The current situation may also reflect decreasing Federal Government pressure for an Endau-Rompin national park, this being associated perhaps with a waning of Federal Government interest in environmental issues generally. Although some progress has been made on the broad subject of environmental quality in recent years--notably the prom- ulgation of the National Parks Act and the anticipated introduction of a National Forestry Act--this is perhaps more a product of the momentum generated during the Third Malaysia Plan period (1976-1980) than an indication of current concern. Moreover, many of the proposals in the third national plan, for example, the creation of nature reserves and wildlife sanctuaries, or the introduction of formal EIS requirements, have never been implemented.

Significantly, the Fourth Malaysia Plan (1981 - 1985) contains no more than three short paragraphs on environmental and conservation matters (Government of Malaysia, 1981). In reviewing the Fourth Malaysia Plan, the Malayan Nature Society expressed concern that the sound concepts of the previous plan had been forgotten, and that the two national parks proposed under the new plan, Endau-Rompin and Kuala Koh, would suffer the fate of the parks, reserves and sanctuaries proposed in the Third Malaysia Plan (Kiew, 1982). The Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia likewise suggested that the Fourth Malaysia Plan reflected decreasing Government interest in the environment (Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia, 1981).

CODA

Environmental issues and problems are rooted in socio-economic and political conditions. It is now widely recognised that development is a prerequisite of conservation, for this reason: in the absence of human well-being the underprivileged have more pressing things to worry about than the quality of their environment. But not just any kind of


development will do. The key, as Eckholm (1982) has put it, 'is economic progress that is ecologically sustainable and satisfies the economic needs of the underclass'.

Malaysia is more fortunate than most Third World societies, although a sizeable proportion of the rural population remains in poverty (Yeung, 1982). In bringing development to rural areas the Government has emphasised the role of land development schemes. In doing so, however, the long-term economic and environmental gains of conservation have generally been ignored in favour of shorter-term development goals. It is for this reason that areas such as Endau-Rompin are rapidly being encroached on from all sides.

Competition for the Peninsula's dwindling natural resources can be expected to intensify in the coming years; over the remaining lowland forests, in particular, it could flare into periodic conflict. Between 1971 and 1977 some 0-56 million ha of forest were logged in the Peninsula, whereas the area of rehabilitated forest amounted to only 50 625 ha (New Straits Times, 30 August 1977). These bald figures underscore the urgent need to conserve the remaining lowland forests, not just because the future of the lucrative timber industry would otherwise be endangered, but also for the purposes of soil and catchment area protection, the conservation of flora and fauna and the preservation--if it is not already too late--of the lifestyles of the region's indigenous forest dwellers, the Orang Asli (Endicott, 1979; Aiken et al., 1982).

At the same time, however, the lowland forests will be avidly sought after for timber exploitation, agricultural development, recreation and for the minerals that lie beneath them. Since it is unrealistic to expect all of the remaining forested area to be set aside as inviolate forest reserves, there will be a growing need to solve competition and conflict within a framework of imaginative, multi-purpose land use planning and management. It must be recognised, however, that many of the systems properties of tropical rain forests are still poorly understood, and that the science of rain forest management, other than for the exploitation of timber, is still in its infancy (Ovington, 1976). It is for just such reasons that the protection of Endau-Rompin is of vital importance, because it is a veritable storehouse of much needed information.

Conservation is very much a matter of political power. In Malaysia it is the Federal Government and its appointed agencies, State authorities, local elites, multi-national organisations and the handful of companies favoured, for example, with timber concessions that wield power over the

274 s. Robert Aiken, Colin H. Leigh

changing environment. Malaysians as yet have no formal role in environmental debate and generally little or no impact on environmental decisions. Given this situation, and the fact that State authorities and other interested parties do not attach much importance to conservation, the role of steward of the environment has fallen largely to the Federal Government.

In the early years of the Third Malaysia Plan period, Federal Government attitudes clearly indicated a concern that the goals of economic development and conservation should be kept in balance. Since then, possibly because of conditions of economic stringency associated with the world economic recession, the record of the Government on environmental issues has been less impressive. In what appears to be an atmosphere of dwindling official interest in the Malaysian environment, the watch-dog role of the Malayan Nature Society, the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia and other like-minded organisations has never been more important. To what extent such societies will be permitted to operate freely, however, remains to be seen. It can be expected, meanwhile, that the area under rain forest will continue to retreat.

A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T

We are grateful to Mohd. Khan bin Momin Khan, Director-General of the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Kuala Lumpur) for his kind assistance.

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Documents

A second national park for peninsular Malaysia? the endau-rompin controversy