https://thediplomat.com/2023/06/why-the-un-should-regulate-singapores-dangerous-sand-imports/
These staggering annual sums of sand, extracted even after Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a blanket sand export ban in 2018, continue to aggravate coastal erosion and deplete the shores of their vital, stabilizing resources. Much of this sand is said to be extracted from the waters around Johor, the Malaysian state directly adjacent to Singapore. According to Malaysiakini, the Sultan of Johor has in the past profited handsomely from sand sales, through Mados Sdn Bhd, a sand extraction company owned by the royal family. The current sultan, Sultan Ibrahim Ishmail, is listed as a director of the company, together with the remaining shareholders, which include “his second wife and nine out of 10 children.”
In 2002, according to the Malaysiakini report, the Johor state government granted Mados a concession to extract sea sand in two areas – at Ramunia Shoal and Kukup in southern Johor. More recently, in 2014, Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Idris also became involved in two major Malaysian reclamation projects. They were led by Benalec Holdings Bnh, and required the extraction of huge volumes of Johor sea sand. Whether Benalec Holdings has exported sea sand to Singapore through one of its land reclamation and dredging subsidiaries remains unclear.
But there’s reason to believe that Mados is supporting sand exports to Singapore, through a third-party proxy company. For instance, in 2022, a complaint was filed by Mighty Earth against Mado’s Holdings Sdn Bhd, which stated that “the primary beneficial owner of Mados’s Holdings Sdn Bhd (a Sultan of a state of Malaysia) has been using a third-party ‘proxy’ company (Nadi Mesra Sdn Bhd) to develop oil palm plantations,” while alleging that “no HCV [High Conservation Values] assessments were conducted prior to any land clearing.”
If indeed the sultan and/or any of his family members or companies held or controlled by them are still involved in exporting Johor’s sand to Singapore, he and his family should consider their duty of care to the people of the state. Johor’s shores continue to be degraded, year after year, and one year, the sand, for all practical purposes, may be virtually gone.
These staggering annual sums of sand, extracted even after Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a blanket sand export ban in 2018, continue to aggravate coastal erosion and deplete the shores of their vital, stabilizing resources. Much of this sand is said to be extracted from the waters around Johor, the Malaysian state directly adjacent to Singapore. According to Malaysiakini, the Sultan of Johor has in the past profited handsomely from sand sales, through Mados Sdn Bhd, a sand extraction company owned by the royal family. The current sultan, Sultan Ibrahim Ishmail, is listed as a director of the company, together with the remaining shareholders, which include “his second wife and nine out of 10 children.”
In 2002, according to the Malaysiakini report, the Johor state government granted Mados a concession to extract sea sand in two areas – at Ramunia Shoal and Kukup in southern Johor. More recently, in 2014, Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Idris also became involved in two major Malaysian reclamation projects. They were led by Benalec Holdings Bnh, and required the extraction of huge volumes of Johor sea sand. Whether Benalec Holdings has exported sea sand to Singapore through one of its land reclamation and dredging subsidiaries remains unclear.
But there’s reason to believe that Mados is supporting sand exports to Singapore, through a third-party proxy company. For instance, in 2022, a complaint was filed by Mighty Earth against Mado’s Holdings Sdn Bhd, which stated that “the primary beneficial owner of Mados’s Holdings Sdn Bhd (a Sultan of a state of Malaysia) has been using a third-party ‘proxy’ company (Nadi Mesra Sdn Bhd) to develop oil palm plantations,” while alleging that “no HCV [High Conservation Values] assessments were conducted prior to any land clearing.”
If indeed the sultan and/or any of his family members or companies held or controlled by them are still involved in exporting Johor’s sand to Singapore, he and his family should consider their duty of care to the people of the state. Johor’s shores continue to be degraded, year after year, and one year, the sand, for all practical purposes, may be virtually gone.
