SHAH ALAM, March 18 — The Sultan of Selangor told the state government today to step up enforcement against waste dumping at rivers in Selangor.

In his address during the opening of the state assembly meeting today, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah said he was informed some four to five rivers were polluted by solid and toxic waste.

“If need be, laws should be enacted that heavily penalise those who pollute the rivers in the state.

“Alongside this, social education should also be stepped up in the form of awareness campaigns, so that the rivers that form one of our water sources can be kept clean,” he said.

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The Sultan’s remarks come in the wake of the discovery last Thursday (March 14) that parts of the Klang River have been polluted by an unidentified substance believe to have been dumped earlier that day.

Separately, work is ongoing at the toxic chemical pollution in Sungai Kim Kim in Pasir Gudang, Johor, where a dozen government agencies mobilised from all over the country have been working for almost a fortnight to detect substances, collect samples and carry out cleaning works.