When green almost gave Liow the blues

PETALING JAYA: The man who took on MCA strongman Liow Tiong Lai in the 2013 general election attributes his impressive performance to his fight against environmental degradation.

Wong Tack, a DAP candidate and a first timer, lost in the Bentong race, but he must have given Liow the shivers with his green campaign. Indeed, he lost by a mere 379 votes. The total number of votes cast was 51,515.

Wong, who is the founder and chairman of Himpunan Hijau, said he saw Bentong turn from a pro-MCA town to a green one, thanks to his leadership of protests against the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, which lies in the district of Kuantan.

“In the couple of months leading to the election, I was campaigning heavily with Himpunan Hijau against Lynas,” he said. “That definitely made a big impact.”

He said MCA was obviously strong in Bentong. “We couldn’t even rent an office or places to stay. In some restaurants, the people wouldn’t even serve us.

“But within two to three weeks, the whole town turned green. The green had a serious impact in the last election.”

The protests against Lamp, a rare earth processing plant set up by the Australian company Lynas, had escalated the year before and continued right through GE13. It became a key election issue in Pahang.

The protests were against the refining process, which was said to result in the dumping of tonnes of toxic and radioactive waste.

Ecotourism and Conservation Society Malaysia CEO Andrew Sebastian told FMT that Wong’s performance in GE13 could serve as a case study for other politicians.

“Environmental champions are something voters are starving for,” he said. “We need a few, not just for Pahang, but for all states.”

Lee Chean Chung, who is deputy director of Pahang PKR’s election operations, told FMT environmental concerns were a major concern for people in Pahang because so much of the state’s natural beauty was being threatened.

He pointed to illegal land clearing in Cameron Highlands and illegal bauxite mining in Kuantan besides the Lamp refinery.

“The people of Pahang are feeling the direct effects of all of this and that’s why they’re the first to stand up,” he said.

Last month, Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob told the state assembly that his administration was still faced with various problems relating to bauxite mining despite the federal government’s imposition of a moratorium on the activity.

Bernama quoted him as saying that the problems included the failure of mining operators to obey the stipulation that they could carry out their activities only from 8am to noon and from 2pm to 4pm.

In Oct 24, 2013, four people were killed in a mud flood in Bertam Valley, Cameron Highlands following a night of unusually heavy rain.

The tragedy was attributed to illegal land clearing at the popular hill resort. The Pahang government reacted by promising that it would work with all relevant agencies, including federal agencies, to curb forest and land encroachment in the state. -FMT