By Parliamentary Opposition Leader. DAP Secretary-General and MP for Traning Lim Kit Siang, In Petaling Jaya on Sunday, 14th April 1991:
Call on Rahim to reveal how many times the Mardec and Myfex factories had polluted the Malacca water sources at the Malacca River in the last ten years.
Malacca Chief Minister, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Cik told a special Bernama interview that ‘the Malacca government will not hesitate to close the Mardec and Myfex factories located near the Durian Tunggal water pump house if they are again found to be sources of pollution of the Malacca River.
Rahim’s statement has not allayed worries among the Malacca people and visitors and tourist who have to drink from the Malacca piped water supply, but only increased their anxieties because they have reason to be very distruetful about the contradictory statements by Federal and State Government leaders.
In giving his final ultimatum to Mardec and Myfex factories that they would be closed down if they are again found to be sources of pollution of the Malacca River, the Malacca Chief Minister is admitting for the first time although indirectly that Mardec and Myfex factories had polluted the Malacca River before.
The Bernama report referred to the Mardec factory pollution on April 2, when 1,140 litres of latex spilled into a drain and flowed into the Malacca river during a downpour while the latex tanks were being cleaned, which resulted in an eight hour shutdown of the DAM treatment plant and disruption of water supply.
The people have a right to know why if Rahim had found right from the beginning that the Mardec factory had polluted the Malacca River on April 2, why had he kept so silent and dumb on this issue in the last 12 days, as he had never publicly declared this finding! What is the reason for Tan Sri Rahim for disregarding the interest of the people of Malacca in ensuring that they get clean drinking water and not latex wastes in their water supplies?
Instead, the people of Malacca and Malaysia were treated to the scandal of the Deputy Primary Industry Minister, Tengku Datuk Haji Mahamud Mansor, visiting Durian Tunggal declaring that the Malacca River was safe, that the treated taste water from the Mardec factory was so clean and healthy that it is even drinkable.
What has Tan Sri Rahim got to say to the public statements by Tengku Datuk Haji Mohamud Mansor, as well as the Primary Industry Minister Datuk Lim Keng Yaik earlier that the treated Mardec ‘waste’ water are drinkable for the people of Malacca?
The Malacca Chief Minister should inform the people of Malacca and Malaysia how many times in the past ten years the Mardec and Myfex Factories had contaminated the Malacca River, which is the source of more than 90 per cent of the Malacca water supply.
Why didn’t the Malacca Inquiry Committee inquire into the connection between the pollution of the Mardec and Myfex factories and the Malacca water crisis?
Or is the Malacca Chief Minister just unable to do so because he has no information as to the number of times the Mardec and Myfex factories had contaminated the Malacca water supply, for this is a level of knowledge and information which is completely beyond his comprehension.
Tan Sri Rahim should know that many Malaccans believe that the Mardec and Myfex factories are intimately related to the cause of the Malacca water shortage crisis, as many believe that water in the Durian Tunggal dam was deliberately released because of pollution.
However, the Malacca inquiry Committee established by the Malacca Chief to inquire into the causes of the water crisis never investigated or examined this important aspect. There was not a word of reference in the full report of the Inquiry Committee on this issue Why? This omission alone is enough to demonstrate why the Inquiry Committee is a ‘wash out’ and its report the most unsatisfactory inquiry report in Malaysian history.
Mardec and Myfex factories have made Durian Tunggal ^ even more ‘dangerous’ and should be relocated immediately
Tan Sri Rahim says that the Durian Tunggal dam belongs to the ‘dangerous’ category because of its location surrounded by many settlements and a town nearby with a vast population of more than 90 per cent of the people in the state.
If this is the case, then the Durian Tanggal dam must have been made even more ‘dangerous’ because of the close siting of the Mardec and Myfex factories. Why then is Tan Sri Rahim still supporting the present location of the Mardec and Myfex factories, instead of relocating them immediately?