Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said it was now time for him to personally brief the people after keeping quiet and receiving various criticisms on the issue.

“Just wait...I will go on a road show throughout Pahang to explain the bauxite issue to the people.

“The briefing is important for us to tell the people the actual thing on the bauxite issue. Previously, I just kept quiet and observed what was happening.

“I will go down and explain and I believe it can be resolved,” he said in his speech at the rebranding of Kolej Institut Kemahiran Ikhtisas Pahang (IKIP) to Kolej Yayasan Pahang (KYP) and Programme SMART Tahfiz, here yesterday.

Adnan said that from his observation, 99 per cent of the bauxite problems that had cropped up was due to bauxite mining in illegal mines.

“The Land and Mines Department (PTG) has the power, customs and the port authorities have the power...on the roads, the police and the Road Transport Department have the power, but eventually we don’t have any power to enforce the law to overcome the illegal mining activities,” he said.

Earlier in his speech, Adnan said the rebranding exercise aimed to show something new in terms of character, form, content and purpose so that KYP would get encouraging response from the public.

“We must provide quality lecturers who not only possess the academic degree but also have the personality capable of giving guidance to the students.

“The college is also required to increase the number of lecturers with the doctorate in philosophy (PhD) qualification from four currently to 10 by the end of 2016 and 18 by the end of 2017,” he added. — Bernama