More than 1,000 residents from Saujana Puchong want to send the authorities a message loud enough to wake the dead: Don't turn the Air Hitam forest reserve into a cemetery.

The proposed 55-hectare public cemetery (see map below) with a crematorium - touted to be the biggest of its kind in the country - will occupy a sizeable portion of the forest reserve presently owned by Universiti Pertainian Malaysia (UPM) for research purposes.

According to the residents, the 3,000 hectare reserve is among the few remaining lowland forests in the country. It acts as a green lung and is also home to an Orang Asli community.

Resident representative Roland Chong (photo:centre) said the cemetery would adversely affect the surrounding environment and threaten the residents health. Furthermore, they believed that no Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the area had been conducted.

"Fifty-five hectares of trees will need to be felled and god knows what (toxins) will spew out of the crematorium," he told a press conference in Petaling Jaya organised by DAP central committee member Ronnie Liu.

Residents unaware

Chong said that almost all the house buyers were unaware of the proposed cemetery when they started moving in about five years ago.

"The prices of our houses will drop if the project goes on. The residents will lose millions due to devaluation. Meanwhile, whoever is running the cemetery will be making millions," he exclaimed.

Last month, the residents held dialogues with the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) and submitted a petition against the cemetery signed by 1,701 individuals.

MPSJ president Mohd Arif Abdul Rahman, in a letter to the residents dated Dec 23, said the project will go on but the council will set up buffer zones and perform "attractive landscaping".

This failed to assuage the residents, who felt that Arif had ignored their plight.
A protest memorandum was also sent to Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo but they have yet to receive a reply.

Presently, the residents are planning to set up a legal fund and obtain a court order to stop the project.

Chong refused to name the defendants but said MPSJ would definitely be on the list.

"We have to stop them from building a cemetery in our back yard," he stressed.