As a result, the state government initiated a programme to address river pollution this year called Johor Bersih@Sungai, involving all 10 districts.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday at Kampung Bakar Batu near Perling after launching the programme to clean up Sungai Skudai, Ling said the initiative began in 2022 before going through two name changes.
There must be a stop to the dumping of garbage into the rivers
He spoke of the importance of having such an activity throughout all districts in Johor, not only in terms of cleaning the rivers, but also to raise public awareness about the need to care for the environment.
“There must be a stop to the dumping of garbage into the rivers,” he said.
However, Ling also said the water quality in five rivers that were among 14 identified as polluted in Johor had shown improvement.
“We managed to improve the class category for the five rivers, which were previously in categories three and four, to category two and higher,” he said.
Ling credited the Department of Environment’s enforcement actions and engagement with industry players for the improvement.
He added that the state government’s Johor Bersih initiative was on the right track given the drop in the number of polluted rivers from 14 to nine.
In an unrelated matter, Ling said that those responsible for the deaths of four elephants in a fruit orchard at Kahang Timur in Kluang could face consequences. The elephants were found dead on June 1.
“The initial postmortem report indicated that the death could be due to respiratory and circulatory failure caused by bleeding, which led to the accumulation of blood in various organs,” he said.
He said the state Wildlife and National Parks Department was awaiting the full postmortem result.
“Samples taken from the elephant carcasses have been sent to the laboratory to find out the cause of death. There is a possibility that the elephants died of poisoning,” he said. “However, the causative agent has not been identified as the lab report is still pending.”
Preliminary reports found that the animals came from a Bandar Tenggara herd that roamed the Lenggor, Kluang, and Kluang Tambahan Labir and Sembrong forest reserves in Johor and Taman Negara Endau Rompin, Pahang.
Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad said in a statement on June 3 that Perhilitan records showed that there had been 646 complaints about human-elephant conflicts reported in Johor from 2020 to May 2024, with 292 of the cases involving the Kluang district.
He said that current estimates showed that there were about 120 to 160 elephants in Johor.
“Elephants are one of the country’s iconic wildlife species and are fully protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act,” he added.