Struggling fisherfolk disillusioned with Malacca politics, but worst yet to come
MALACCA POLLS | Tanjung Kling is a fishing community located along the Malaccan coastline.
Since campaigning for the state polls kicked off, banners and flags of the three main coalitions vying to form the next Malacca government have gone up in all the villages.
However, the local fisherfolk have been indifferent. Neither BN, Perikatan Nasional (PN) or Pakatan Harapan is appealing to them.
All three coalitions have, at some point in the last five years, led the Malacca government.
Several fisherfolk told Malaysiakini that after experiencing governance under the different coalitions, they are pessimistic that their lives will change for the better regardless of who wins.
Their gripe is with several reclamation projects in recent years that have proceeded regardless of who is in power.
The projects, they said, have damaged the ecosystem and environment, driving coastal marine life away and hurting their livelihoods.
Mohd Yazid Ayop, 45, lamented the dearth of fishes that he can catch every time he goes out to sea.
"If land reclamation keeps continuing in this area, we won't be able to make a living even until we die... We can only get a few fish.
"Sometimes, we have to fork out RM50 for petrol to fuel our boat. That allows us to go out for five days but the amount we can earn is not more than RM50.
"We can't get any fish. Even the boat helpers can't buy themselves a drink. It's pitiful," he said.
Tanjung Kling is located within the state constituency of Pantai Kundor, where Amanah has fielded former Umno leader Nor Azman Hassan as the Harapan candidate.
Nor Azman was sacked from Umno for his role in toppling incumbent chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali's Umno-Bersatu government.
He won the seat in the 2018 general election under a BN ticket and will be facing off against PN's Mohamad Ridzwan Mustafa and BN's Tuminah Kadi.
Promises, but no compensation
One of the fishing community's complaints is the expansion of the nearby Tanjung Bruas port which has been around since the 1980s.
They said dredging works for the expansion of the port which started last year had disrupted fishing activities.
The fisherfolk added that the state government promised that they would be compensated during the period of disruption but until the expansion was completed, no compensation arrived.
In March, Sulaiman instructed the port to pay some 300 fisherfolk who were impacted by the works related to the extension of the jetty.
The fisherfolk maintained that they never saw a penny of that money.
To add salt to injury, they said they were later informed of another expansion of the port and an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is in the works.
According to a letter to the fisherfolk which was sighted by Malaysiakini, the upcoming expansion involves the reclamation of an area measuring 48.5ha, which is equivalent to the surface area of 389 Olympic swimming pools.
The developer of the project is Kumpulan Melaka Berhad, a wholly-owned subsidiary of state-controlled Melaka Chief Minister Incorporated.
A fishing community at another village in the southern part of Tanjung Kling also shared stories about similar struggles.
Fisherfolk from Kampung Pinang, located on the river mouth of Sungai Lereh, said they had to endure a sand mining project in the area.
Likewise, they were also promised compensation but never saw any.
Daud Othman, a 38-year-old fisherman from the village said they are highly reliant on coastal marine life as they do not have the financial capability or equipment for deep-sea fishing.
However, he said the noise and pollutants from the ongoing projects have driven the marine life away from the coast and deeper into the sea.
Risky to go deep sea
"If we want to go farther out to sea, we need to change to a bigger boat. We can't use the same nets, equipment or engines we use to fish just off the coast.
"It is more costly. For instance, the net to fish near the coast is only RM40 but the net to fish in the middle area will cost around RM200.
"And the waves in the middle of the sea is stronger. We can't use a small boat. It's risky," he told Malaysiakini.
Without the financial capability to upgrade and no compensation forthcoming, the fisherfolk have no choice but to continue trying their luck near the coast despite the deteriorating quality of the catch.
But that's not all, they said they also face other difficulties - sand mining ships damaging their fishing nets.
Ahmad Omar, one such fisherman who experienced the troubles, said a sand mining ship crashed into his fishing net in 2016 but he had yet to receive any compensation.
Fisherfolk group Jaringan Nelayan Pantai Puteri said reclamation activities emerged in 2003 when BN's Mohd Ali Rustam was the chief minister.
Its 53-year-old chief Azmi Leman said things have gotten progressively worse in the last five years.
A third-generation fisherman, Azmi said the coastline where they can fish have been getting shorter and the amount of marine life have also declined.
He appealed to the candidates contesting in the Malacca polls to look into their plight.
"We understand that those are their (state government) land but from the perspective of fisherfolk's livelihood, those areas have rocks underneath where the stay resides.
"If these places are polluted, where will the fisherfolk go to earn their livelihood?
"We fisherfolk don't just stay (and fish) at one place but the whole of Malacca's coastline is affected.
"To our right, there is Petronas' jetty, to our left, there's the Tanjung Bruas jetty which will be expanded, where can we go when we're stuck in the middle?" he said as he pointed out to sea.
'Nice' fisherfolk can't stand up to exploitation
Azmi said the fisherfolk are the worst hit and not all of them are able to make a living on land.
"How can they support their families?"
Azmi said whoever comes into power after the Malacca polls, should engage the fisherfolk before carrying out projects that are affecting their means to survive.
"We don't want to keep talking but while we talk, the project has already begun or is even about to be completed," he said.
He added that they should also look into the outstanding compensation promised to the fishing community but were never delivered.
Meanwhile, Yazid lamented that the Malaccan fisherfolk were "too well-mannered" and couldn't stand up to exploitation.
"We rarely protest because fisherfolk are too nice... That's why they can step on us," he said.
Sulaiman is defending his Lendu seat located further north from Pantai Kundor. Lendu does not have a coastline.
Malaysiakini has reached out to Sulaiman to get his response.
As the fisherfolk grapple with the ongoing reclamation projects along the coast, little do they know that several more are in the offing.
According to documents from the Department of Environment, one such project involves the reclamation of a 121ha area off the coast of Kelebang, a neighbouring state constituency to the southeast of Pantai Kundor.
The EIA report said the project overlaps with a gazetted national heritage zone and is only 500m away from Pulau Upeh, which is a sea turtle landing site.
Mother of reclamations coming
But the mother of reclamations in Malacca is contained within the BN manifesto document for the state polls.
Sulaiman unveiled the BN manifesto on Wednesday (Nov 10) in which he touted the Malacca Waterfront Economic Zone (M-WEZ) as a key driver of the state's economy and will generate some 10,000 jobs in five years.
Malaysiakini scrutinised the details of the project and found that it will involve extensive reclamation works covering around half of Malacca's entire coastline, affecting not only Pantai Kundor but also seven other coastal constituencies.
According to M-WEZ's website, the mega project involves 10,000ha which is double the area of Putrajaya, along the 33km-long coastline and will be divided into five sections.
Starting from the coast of Sungai Udang, the M-WEZ will extend along the coast of Pantai Kundor to Kelebang, Kesidang, Kota Laksamana, Bandar Hidir, Telok Mas, until the northern part of Serkam.
It will involve extending the Malaccan coast farther out to sea, creating large swathes of new land.
They will be developed into a harbourfront, business parks, townships and logistics centre, pushing long-time fishing villages farther inland and away from the sea.
The new economic zone was approved by the Malacca state assembly on Sept 22, during which Sulaiman described it as a "game-changer" for the state's economy.
All 11 opposition assemblypersons from PKR, Amanah and DAP voted against the project.
However, they were outnumbered by 16 government assemblypersons who voted in favour. One government assemblyperson was absent.
The project largely went unnoticed in the public sphere but environment conservationists have described it as a "disaster" and started a petition to "save the Malaccan coast". - Mkini
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