DAP’s Ariff vows to fix Bukit Koman woes

If the health issues are caused by cyanide poisoning, he says, the Raub gold mine will be shut down.

VIDEO INSIDE

RAUB: The DAP candidate for Raub, ex-Umno man Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz, has promised to resolve the alleged health woes of Kampung Bukit Koman if he wins.

He told FMT that he would ensure the shutdown of the controversial Raub Australian Gold Mine (RAGM) if experts supported allegations that its extraction procedure was responsible for causing ill health among residents in and around Bukit Koman.

The company uses hydrogen cyanide to extract gold.

“We’re going to have an honest, independent, international body to assess the scientific and safety requirements,” he declared after a walkabout at a night market in the sleepy village of Kampung Sungai Kelau.

“If they don’t conform and endanger the health of the people, we’ll just shut it down,” he said.

Kampung Bukit Koman residents say many of them have been afflicted with skin rashes, shortness of breath and other illnesses since RAGM began its operations in 2009. They and their sympathisers blame cyanide poisoning for the symptoms.

However, Putrajaya has been insisting that the plant poses no hazard to the environment.

Recently, the mine was declared safe by the Department of Environment as well as a team of experts from the Institute of Medical Research, Public Health Institute, Universiti Putra Malaysia and the International Medical University.

But Ariff dismissed the expert opinion, saying it was the “word of a bullying government against the voiceless people”.

“Why didn’t they come out in the open and tell it and have an open debate about it? It’s their word against ours.”

‘Real bulldog’

He said he was confident he could “take the bull by its horns” and resolve the matter, in contrast to the failure of caretaker ministers Ng Yen Yen and Liow Tiong Lai to pacify unhappy locals. Ng was the previous MP for Raub and Liow for neighbouring Bentong.

“The health minister [Liow] and tourism minister [Ng] didn’t do anything because they think they are powerless,” Ariff said.

“They come from MCA, and MCA is more willing to be a lapdog than a real bulldog and tackle people’s problems.”

He said BN had dismissed the residents’ concern as unjustified and claimed the issue was racially charged.

“They claim it is an issue agitated by a few Chinese against a Malay government. Now it’s going to be different. I’m a Malay and I’m going to speak about the issue.”

However, Ariff faces an uphill task in trying to defeat BN’s Hoy Khai Mun. Raub was one of the few MCA strongholds that survived the opposition onslaught in the last general election.

Furthermore, it was evident during his walkabout that the former Umno man was unaccustomed to reaching out to voters without the backing of the BN apparatus he had been used to.

He appeared to be struggling to connect with the folk of Kampung Sungai Kelau, many of whom seemed unimpressed by his calls to “Vote for me” and “Ubah”.

But he spoke with optimism, saying his support was multiracial.

Referring to the multiracial group that accompanied him to his nomination centre on April 20, he said: “Everybody was walking together, not even cautious of being Chinese, Indian or Malay, but Malaysians wanting to have a change of government.

“So I don’t feel I’m at a disadvantage. I have as fair a chance as my opponent.”