WHILE Malaysians can expect relief from the debilitating effects of the smog that has engulfed this region for the past one month, the relief has come, not on account of our own efforts, but mainly due to the monsoon winds that have blown the smog away from Malaysia.
Unfortunately, other activities that can affect the health and lives of communities in the country are continuing to destroy the environment.
The authorities do not seem to have learnt their lesson from what the people have had to put up with these past months, as the culprits involved are oblivious to what they have caused.
Thus, the illegal farmers who caused so much damage in Cameron Highlands are back.
The same goes for bauxite mining, which has released contaminated heavy metals, not to mention the possibility of radioactive content, into areas near Kuantan, especially in Sungai Pengorak and Pantai Pengorak.
The Pahang government does not seem bothered about the possibility of environmental disaster in those areas, as nothing much in the way of controlling and regulating such activities has been done.
Nothing has been heard of culprits brought to justice or charged over their illegal activities.
What is most galling is the almost cavalier attitude of the Pahang government with regard to these illegal activities.
Thus, what Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob has been quoted to have said is that it will decide on the next course of action in about one month,
once the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) concludes its
report.
But the fact is that AELB only carries out tests to see whether the samples taken from there contain radiation.
Is the Pahang government not too concerned about the release of heavy metals, including lead, aluminium, cadmium and iron, into the area?
Is its earning of the princely sum of RM37 million from the five per cent royalty it receives from bauxite mining worth the adverse health effects on its people?
However, it is not known what other princely sum it is earning from illegal farmers in Cameron Highlands .
It is as if it is too bad the people in Kuantan have to live with the presence of the heavy metals, so long as there is no confirmation of the presence of radiation.
The fact that the suspended particulate (PM10) in Kuantan Port is above the maximum level set in the Malaysian Ambient Air Quality Guidelines also does not seem to be of too much concern to the Pahang government. It is the same with illegal farming in Cameron Highlands.
It is of not much concern to the Pahang government, even if the environment there is destroyed.
What a letdown.
n REJAL ARBEE,Shah Alam, Selangor