This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on January 23, 2023 - January 29, 2023
The tragic landslide in Batang Kali on Dec 16, 2022, took the lives of 31 people. It was a stark reminder of the risks faced by all who live next to steep slopes. In Peninsular Malaysia, most flat land has already been developed. This is particularly true in the Klang Valley, where most new developments are situated on sloping terrain.
With climate change predicted to create more intense rainfall, landslides are likely to become more common. This raises the question of what steps we can take as individuals, businesses, and society to prevent further tragedies.
Let me highlight some steps from the perspective of the three pillars of good governance: competency, transparency and accountability.
Landslide risk highlights the need to ensure that developments on or near steep terrain do not cut corners in terms of science. This means consulting the appropriate professional civil engineers, landscape designers and architects.
What is not so obvious is the need for greenfield development to also consider local knowledge. Developers must be open to advice from seasoned blue-collar workers, consult with elderly members of local communities, and respect the traditional knowledge of indigenous people.
For example, the Batang Kali tragedy may have been averted had people respected a customary belief of the local Orang Asli. This Temuan belief involves a pantang or taboo against building a campsite downstream of a stream configuration known as a lidah jin (devil’s tongue). It is easy to dismiss such an idea as superstitious nonsense. However, a closer look reveals some sense in it.
A lidah jin stream is one where three small streams converge, forming a sort of trident shape (). Such a location would be prone to flash floods. Landslides could trigger mudflows that would converge at the base of the lidah jin. These facts may have been the origin of the pantang against camping in locations such as the Batang Kali organic farm.
Good governance also requires increasing transparency regarding slope management. This means letting the public know the location of high-risk slopes. In particular, the Department of Survey and Mapping Malaysia should make its digital topographical data freely available online. Maps that identify landslide-prone areas should be declassified.
For example, following the landslide in Ampang on March 10, 2022, that killed four people, the Selangor government identified more than 150 high-risk slopes. These maps should be released to the public.
Transparency can also be improved by providing information on hillside development. The authorities should make environmental impact assessments available online.
In this regard, it is heartening to know that the new environment minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad recently expressed his commitment to increased transparency.
Finally, good governance requires accountability when things go wrong. In this regard, the Local Government Act 1976 needs to be amended. Two new elements are needed: restoring local council elections and removing local council immunity.
Appointed local councils that are immune from liability have less incentive to protect steep areas, maintain existing slopes or prevent unsafe developments. Until this arrangement is changed, the public has no choice but to demand accountability from the person who appointed the local councillors: the menteri besar.
Lim Teckwyn is managing director of Resource Stewardship Consultants Sdn Bhd and honorary associate professor at University of Nottingham Malaysia’s School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences
Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.
P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play.