KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 30 — PKR's Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh today urged the Pahang state government to immediately issue a stop work order on all bauxite mining activities before the rainy season goes into full swing, to avoid heavy metals from contaminating the environment further.
The opposition lawmaker said there has already been one case of alleged contamination at a legal bauxite mine in Bukit Goh, where she claimed the retaining wall of an oxide washing pond collapsed and leaked its contents into the surrounding environment.
Fuziah claimed that the leakage has led to a steady stream of “toxic mud” to flow towards at least one nearby house.
“It has contaminated the house with toxic mud, as it contains heavy metallic compounds,” she claimed at a news conference at the Parliament lobby here.
Fuziah said the monsoon season presents a genuine problem as it is not uncommon for rain to last for several days at a time and could cause an even more catastrophic situation compared to the alleged leakage at Bukit Goh.
She stressed that both the state and federal governments must have the political will to regulate the bauxite mining industry to protect the health and interests of the people of Kuantan.
“A flood is bad enough, but a bauxite flood is very toxic,” she claimed.
On November 16, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Putrajaya agreed to a suggestion to temporarily suspend the export of bauxite from Pahang until proper regulations are in place to keep the industry in check.
He, however, stressed that this would require the buy in from the Pahang state government.
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and considered the world’s main source of the metal.
Earlier this month when raising a petition seeking Parliament’s intervention on the issue, Fuziah said an estimated 44 companies are exporting some 15 million tonnes of bauxite out of Pahang to China each month.
She claimed then that there are numerous loopholes that companies can exploit to cash in on the growing industry at the expense of Kuantan’s air and water quality and its surrounding environment.
