GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Fishermen's Association hopes to meet Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim soon to discuss the controversial Penang South Island project, previously known as the Penang South Reclamation project.
Its chairman, Ibrahim Che Ros, said the association had sent a letter today seeking a face-to-face meeting with the prime minister.
"We have written to the prime minister and will wait for the date to meet him.
"It is our hope that this controversial reclamation project will be scrapped altogether. We hope that he is willing to listen to the more than 6,000 fishermen in Penang who are against the project," he told the New Straits Times today.
Ibrahim said the fishermen were confident that Anwar would take this matter seriously as he had met the fishermen who would be affected by the project.
"We are confident that he will look into our concerns, because apart from him, his daughter, Nurul Izzah Anwar, who is former for Permatang Pauh member of parliament, had reservations about the project."
The Penang South Island project, covering an area of 17sq km, involves the development of three man-made islands spanning an area of 1,800ha in the waters off Permatang Damar Laut, near Bayan Lepas.
It was introduced as a funding module for the Penang Transport Master Plan, which is estimated to cost about RM46 billion. Fishermen have objected the reclamation project since it was first introduced in 2015.
They scored a moral victory when they won an appeal to revoke the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval for the project last year, after the court allowed a preliminary objection by Zakaria Ismail, head of the fishermen's unit in Sungai Batu, and the approval by the Environment Department for the project's EIA was set aside.
The EIA was deemed by the court as ultra vires, null and void according to Section 34A(4)(a) of the Environmental Quality Act 1974. The Penang government has since submitted a new EIA for approval.
The fishing community is against the project, claiming that it would destroy their livelihoods and the abundant marine resources here.
Ibrahim also expressed hope that the new government would not approve the new EIA.
"(Datuk Seri) Anwar was with us during a meeting at the Sungai Batu Fishing Unit about three years ago. At that time, he had said he would discuss and listen to an explanation from the state government regarding the project first.
"He had said then that he was unaware of any large-scale reclamation project around the world where the fate of fishermen was guaranteed. Based on that, we are confident that he will look into our appeal for this project to be scrapped."
Teluk Kumbar Fishing Unit head Roslizan Ramli expressed hope that all elected representatives who campaigned in the fishing village during the 15th General Election would keep their promise to help the fishing community cancel the project.
"We hope that those who had campaigned for days here will keep their promise to join us in insisting that this project be cancelled," he said.
"We also hope that those who had expressed their support for us would express their position to Anwar, thereby further strengthening our cause."