After MCA man muck dives, DAP rep invites him for 'gotong royong'

An MCA activist plunged into a murky drain to highlight pollution in Sungai Pinang, Penang yesterday.

Armed with a small scoop net and personal floatation device, Cheah Chin Woon and a team of MCA activists spent 30 minutes cleaning the drain.

Cheah was the only one to get soaked in the turbid black waters because the other activists chose to scoop up rubbish from the banks.

"I am raising awareness for the public to ensure that everybody will help keep our rivers clean.

"It is not a show but by jumping in the river to increase awareness, I hope to educate and influence the people not to throw rubbish indiscriminately," Cheah was quoted as saying by The Star.

Cheah told the press that he had previously complained to the authorities about the drain, which leads to Sungai Pinang, but workers only took action yesterday, coinciding with his event.

"Based on 24 days of observation, with photographic evidence, we can see that the problem was not solved until the last minute.

"Politicians are always blaming the people for littering.

"But in fact, there wasn't so much garbage initially. It's just that it was not cleaned regularly and this led to the garbage accumulating,” he said.

"Just this morning, there were 12 cleaners working along the road, showing that they are 'working hard before the exam'," he added.

Sungai Pinang assemblyperson Lim Siew Khim, when contacted, expressed gratitude to MCA for raising the issue but stressed that the state government was well aware of it.

"I understand they want to put pressure on the government... but there's no need to do it just when the election is around the corner. He might hurt himself.

"There's no need to jump into the drain. Come join our gotong-royong. That would help," she said.

Man-made problem

Lim explained that Sungai Pinang is 3.6km long and fed by six tributaries. Therefore, she said the garbage tends to collect in her constituency, which is downriver.

She said the pollution of Sungai Pinang was a man-made problem as people are polluting the river.

Sungai Pinang assemblyperson Lim Siew Khim

"If people don't throw rubbish into the river, then we won't have to spend money cleaning it and use it for other purposes," she added.

Lim refuted Cheah's claim that the state government was not cleaning the drains and rivers often enough.

"If you look at our work at the garbage boom, we collect a ton of garbage a day on average. If we don't clean it, it might snap.

"So you can't say the government is not doing enough. I don't deny that we are seeing more rubbish (in the waters) but whose fault is that?

"This is a man-made problem. What we need is better enforcement," she said.

This is not the first time politicians have plunged into rivers. During the 2008 general election, the then DAP Sungai Pinang candidate Koid Teng Guan also jumped into the river to prove that it was heavily polluted. He was the Sungai Pinang asseblyperson from 2008 to 2013.

In 2012, the then Kota Melaka BN public complaints bureau deputy chief Yee Kok Wah promised that if the local flood issues were not solved, he would "jump into a drain".

On July 1 of that year, he did so at Pengkalan Rama Pantai which was a flood-prone area. - Mkini