Malaysians are having a bad week tbh. With the political uncertainty that’s happening, I’m not sure if we can handle any more bad news. While we were distracted with who gets to lead us, a national treasure got destroyed while many of us were blissfully uaware about it.
The Tunas Harapan forest in Tanjung Malim, Perak is a 200-acre forest area with 2 million rainforest trees. The forest contained 1,200 species of forest trees and many happen to be rare and endemic (native plants that’s restricted to a certain space). This forest was planted by Jason Kingham, 84, a retired planter who collected these species with the help of the Orang Asli and also park rangers and subsequently grew them in polybags.
This is something that should be maintained for years to come as the forest not only has fruit trees but also medicinal leaves, roots and tree barks, which logically speaking should be preserved and conserved. However, due to the greed of some, this treasure is being bulldozed right now! Facebook user Jules Ong shed some light on the issue and said that the lease on the land has not been renewed and the state land has been sold to new owners. With the Perak corporation taking over, they are currently bulldozing every single tree in the forest.
The once rich and lush greenery stands bare as the whole ecosystem gets heartlessly destroyed. This rainforest could’ve possibly been the largest rainforest nursery in Asia with even FRIM (Forest Research Institute Malaysia) even visiting the forest for the diverse collection of seedlings. It contained many unknown species of fruits that have medicinal values that haven’t even been researched thoroughly and who knows if it can ever be.
While we can’t stop what’s already happening, we certainly have a say from it becoming worse. That’s why Jules created this petition which aims to protect the largest rainforest nursery gene bank in Malaysia. You might think what will a simple petition do, but it’s always the smallest voices that make the largest noise.
The fact that we let this happen is simply disappointing and just plain sad. With everything that’s happening out there, the environment is the only thing we have left to sustain. We should do whatever it takes to stop this monstrosity from worsening. Don’t let the efforts of so many people go to waste.
Also read: Africa On Fire: A Story That The World Conveniently Forgot
