·  environment

State of Forest Democracy in Peninsular Malaysia

Only 4 four states with 5.5% of reserves in Peninsular Malaysia have legislated public inquiry before degazetting forest reserves. Another 4 state with 69% of reserves have rejected it.

Selamat Hari Merdeka! I am a Malaysian journalist.

Forests and governance

  1. Without forests, Malaysia suffers. Rivers would dry, soil would harden, floods harsher, pests boom and crops falter, diseases emerge, deers dwindle, and tigers forced to haunt highways.
  2. Malaysia has more resources and fewer natural calamities than our neighbours. Ours is the blessed nation of our region.
  3. How well we build our country depends largely on how we manage these resources. At the very least, we should avoid depleting resources and adding calamities.
  4. Every Malaysian federal and state government asks for our unity and cooperation. They also want our trust.
  5. It takes the entire country to build a country. Neither the governments nor the people should feel privileged to only take but not give back.

New conditions - public inquiry & simultaneous replacement

  1. If you have been nodding to the points above, you would agree then that when the government wishes to remove forest reserves, they should inform the public, answer their questions, and listen to feedback.
  2. A sidenote: “Listening to feedback” is just that – listening. Nobody is asking for the government to act exactly as the public demands. After all, the public is diverse in both views and demands.
  3. You might even muster a pinch more wild courage, and demand that the governments replace every reserve removed with a new area of identical size (or bigger!) at the same time.
  4. These two conditions were introduced into the federal National Forestry Act in a 2022 Amendment made by the federal government.
  5. But federal forestry laws have no power on the ground in the states.
  6. In Malaysia, state governments have sole authority over forests and land. Each state writes its own land and forest enactments to govern these resources. They can choose to adopt (“terimapakai”) the federal forestry law amendments, or not.

Current status - 69% rejected new conditions

  1. As of 28 August 2026, which state government in Peninsular Malaysia practice the above conditions when removing forest reserves?
  2. Public inquiry condition: Selangor (enforced 2011), Perlis (2023), Federal Territories (2025), Melaka (2026) – these make up 5.5% of forest reserves in the peninsula
  3. Compulsory and simultaneous replacement: Perlis (2023), Federal Territories (2025), Melaka (2026) – these make up 0.4% of forest reserves in the peninsula
  4. Four of the larger forested states have chosen to explicitly reject these conditions: Kelantan (2025), Negeri Sembilan (2025), Perak (2026), and Pahang (State Legislative Assembly decided on 27 August 2026). These make up 69.3% of forest reserves in the peninsula.

Click here to download the states’ gazettes on the above changes.

What’s next – Show up!

  1. After my rant, conservationist and activist friends reminded me that there’s always hope to strengthen forest democracy and transparency. “Don’t despair”, “keep at it”, “keep showing up”. They are right, of course, and I thank them for their encouragement.
  2. We – journalists, CSOs, you – must continue (or begin to) monitoring government maneuvers in forest laws and use.
  3. Terengganu, Kedah, Selangor, Penang, and Johor have yet to amend their forestry enactments in respond to the 2022 federal amendments. Let’s keep our eyes on them, and have them know we are watching.
  4. We (I’m thinking largely of journalists) have to build strong, local cases for why public opinion in forestry matters for local communities. We need to talk with locals to figure out the gaps in attention and why and how we can flag these issues in ways that match their importance.
  5. I will continue to improve and update Fate of Our Forests. Soon I will gather people and funds and materials to plug a big gap in the maps of forest reserves. The ball has started rolling!

UPDATED 30/8: Added “Penang” to #18. Penang government had submitted a Bill in March 2026 that adopts ALL of the federal amendments, but at the May 2026 DUN meeting, the government decided to retract the Bill for further deliberation and the DUN approved the retraction. So by today (30/8), Penang hasn’t amended their forestry enactment in response to 2022 federal amendments yet.