MP wants Pahang to issue stop-work order on bauxite mining

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh wants the Pahang state government to issue a stop-work order for bauxite mining before the monsoon floods hit the state.

She said four hours of rain in the early hours of Sunday had caused the retention wall of a bauxite cleaning pond in Bukit Goh to burst, and the water to spill into the house of a nearby resident.

"This was just four hours of rain; try to imagine what will happen if the rain goes on for four days during the monsoon.

"Flooding is bad enough, but bauxite-contaminated flood water is toxic," Fuziah said at a press conference in the Parliament lobby today.

As such, she wants the Pahang government to issue a stop-work order for the affected mine so that the retention wall can be repaired.

She also wants a stop-work order on all bauxite mining in the state, legal or illegal, and for the federal government to fulfil its promise to halt bauxite exports so as to cripple demand.

"The state and federal governments must have the political will to do something. Please stop the suffering of the Kuantan people," Fuziah said.

She previously claimed that four rivers in Kuantan were heavily contaminated with mercury, citing a Department of Environment study. -Mkini