https://www.scmp.com/rss/510929/feed Yao-Hua Law is a freelance science journalist in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has written for Science, Science News, The Atlantic, and Mosaic. He runs a podcast on science stories in Southeast Asia, and co-founded Macaranga, an environmental journalism portal focused on Malaysia. He loves durians and could spend hours watching insects on plants. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com For 16 months, indigenous Orang Asli villagers of Kampung Mesau in Malaysia have been living at a fork in a logging road. In the Chini-Bera forests in Pahang, they have built a wooden blockade to stop loggers from entering the thick forests north of the fork. South of the fork, however, are shrubs and silt as far as the eyes can see. Loggers have cleared the forests there. There are no monkeys to hunt, wood to collect, or herbs to gather. Locals say it is open and plain, and not fit for the... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3197639/malaysias-indigenous-orang-asli-call-end-logging-amid-fears-endangered-tigers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3197639/malaysias-indigenous-orang-asli-call-end-logging-amid-fears-endangered-tigers?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Oct 2022 06:00:28 +0000 A Malaysian plantation company, with the Johor royal family as its indirect majority shareholders, may have been developing land well ahead of getting the necessary approval. Satellite images show that in 2020 to 2021, more than 600 hectares (1,483 acres) of forest on the 3,775-hectare site were cleared in Johor. By June last year, kilometres of new irrigation drains criss-crossed the site, which is sandwiched between forest reserves, plantations, rivers, and villages. Logging and agricultural... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3186193/malaysias-johor-royals-linked-forests-felled-oil-palm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3186193/malaysias-johor-royals-linked-forests-felled-oil-palm?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 24 Jul 2022 00:30:12 +0000 One evening in November 2021, in the village of Kampung Kaloi in Malaysia’s Kelantan state, villagers gathered at the community hall. Their blind shaman, Along Busu, sat alone and stared straight ahead. His wife Muna Angah lay behind him. She had been coughing for months. Doctors at the nearest hospital, about 55km away, could not diagnose her illness. Along was about to do what his ancestors have done for generations – conduct a ritual called sewang to consult superhuman beings for... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3175178/malaysias-orang-asli-villagers-forest-clearing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3175178/malaysias-orang-asli-villagers-forest-clearing?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 25 Apr 2022 00:30:29 +0000 About five years ago, a herd of elephants showed up at Su Chun Fa’s estate in Malaysia and ate all the young oil palms in an eight-acre plot. Su blamed himself. Elephants had long roamed the adjacent forests in Johor, but they had stayed away from the estates for some time, so he opted not to install electric fences. “I was careless,” said the 75-year-old, who has lived in Peninsular Malaysia’s southernmost state of Johor for most of his life. He has since abandoned his plot near the town of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3152545/malaysias-johor-forest-reserves-are-being-replaced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3152545/malaysias-johor-forest-reserves-are-being-replaced?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 17 Oct 2021 09:00:22 +0000