LETTER | In Malaysia, warnings by conservationists that we have been losing our forest cover have been ringing in our ears for decades. Unfortunately, the problem has always seemed remote as we are constantly told that our nation’s devastating forest loss is the result of unsustainable logging and palm oil cultivation – activities that take place far away from urban areas, adversely impacting indigenous people and endangering animals like the orang utan, sun bear, pygmy elephant and clouded leopard.

This is no longer the case as the high profits for timber, poor government regulation and corruption have brought the problem closer to our doorstep than we dare imagine. On April 12, 2021, this was made brutally clear to me when I accosted a logging truck carrying the remains of a felled hardwood tree felled from a playground in Taman Seputeh, right in the middle of Kuala Lumpur.

At around two that afternoon, a resident had sounded the alarm on a Taman Seputeh community WhatsApp group that “people are cutting down our perfectly good trees around the playground at Jalan Batu Laut 2”. 

I had previously lived in Taman Seputeh for nearly 20 years and my father still lives there so I decided to go check it out for myself. And that was how I literally came face to face with the logging truck, the last thing one would expect to see in a leafy residential neighbourhood like Taman Seputeh.

Initially, I thought that I had stumbled on an ‘illegal' logging operation, but to my horror, the truck driver told me that he worked for a Kuala Lumpur City Hall  (DBKL) contractor and his task was to remove the chopped timber from the playground. He had no papers to show, but he handed me his phone to speak to his superior (phone ID: 'Kayu Balak') who confirmed that his company had been contracted by DBKL to undertake the job. 

The man on the phone threatened to sue me if I continued to hold up the truck, and tauntingly added that I should have halted the chopping down of the tree earlier – which was ridiculous since there had been no warning whatsoever.

Meanwhile, a DBKL officer – an Encik Khairul from the Tree Maintenance, Landscape Division of DBKL, was meeting up with irate residents at the playground who demanded to know why the tree had been cut down on the morning of April 10, 2021. The DBKL officer’s answer - the tree was dead. 

This raised eyebrows and scorn as everyone could tell from the stump that the tree had been a very strong, mature healthy tree – most certainly premium commercial timber that would fetch a princely profit. Someone also pointed out two dead or half-dead trees nearby which were not felled. Why not? 

The felled tree was estimated to be over 40 years old, but definitely not ailing in that it posed a risk of uprooting and falling down anytime soon. When someone suggested that the felled tree would be sold for profit, Encik Khairul did not refute it. Neither did he deny that there were other trees in the playground marked for the same fate.

So almost a week has passed and we are still trying to understand what happened here. For a start, we have sought the expertise of a forestry officer to verify if the felled tree was indeed mati as Encik Khairul insisted it was. Certainly, no one is so unreasonable as to oppose the felling of trees if there is a good reason because massive thunderstorms in the past week have seen a few big trees crashing down in various parts of Klang Valley, causing damage and endangering lives. 

If safety is our priority, then trees that pose a danger to property and life should be removed – no argument there. However, if a branch were to break off in a storm, who decides if the tree should be cut down? Surely, this cannot be simply determined by a DBKL officer in consultation with chainsaw and crane operators. 

Rightly, such decisions should be made by qualified arborists who monitor and maintain the fitness of trees as part of a concerted long-term urban greening plan for the city – something which unfortunately currently does not exist.

While awaiting the autopsy results for the tree, we also question the lack of transparency, the poor management of the entire felling operation, and DBKL’s epic failure to give prior notice to the Taman Seputeh Residents’ Association or the residents living nearby. Why the stealth and secrecy? 

When the crane and chainsaw team arrived at the playground, no leaflets had been distributed, no warning signage or safety barricades had been put up to prepare everyone for what was going to happen (in a children’s playground, mind you.) 

Instead, motorists who parked their cars along the road were rudely ordered to remove them, and when people asked the crane operator to produce a DBKL permit, they, too, were fobbed off. 

When it was all over, residents were left to not only grieve the loss of a beloved tree but were outraged at the debris and extensive damage left behind - a broken railing and a shattered pavement, all of which have not been repaired.

So we are compelled to ask, was the DBKL operation actually above board even though the logging contractor executed it with DBKL’s blessings? Why was a perfectly good tree cut down and in such a suspicious manner?

After all, it was only earlier this month on April 4, 2021, that Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa jubilantly announced that a million trees would be planted in the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.

According to a report of the launch of the massive four-year tree-planting initiative at Metropolitan Batu Park in Sentul, the minister urged stakeholders, including city folk, to cooperate to ensure the success of the initiative, reminding them not to damage or cut down the planted trees.

“It takes more than 20 years for trees to grow to their mature size,” noted the minister. “If they are cut down, we have to replant new trees and wait for another 20 years to achieve a similar effect.”

Present were the ministry secretary-general Rosida Jaafar and Kuala Lumpur Mayor Mahadi Che Ngah himself and Annuar noted that, "DBKL had been reminded to inform its contractors to be more mindful and not simply cut down trees.”

But words, however good they sound, must be backed by action. After our experience in Taman Seputeh last week, can we still draw comfort from the minister’s speech or dismiss his declarations as cakap tak serupa bikin? Right now, we are demanding clarification, but we also want sincere engagement with DBKL to come up with a long-term management plan for our trees. 

If it turns out that the felled tree was not a dead tree, should the Taman Seputeh residents be so gullible as to accept it as an isolated case of poor judgment? Worse, if it turns out that we are going to lose more beloved trees of our neighbourhood to wanton and irresponsible commercial logging, are we to forget and forgive this betrayal of trust in the next general election? 

Meanwhile, should tree-loving residents in other neighbourhoods similar to Taman Seputeh not also fear the destruction of their own arboreal sanctuaries?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.