Tuesday June 16, 2009
Folk say no to petrochemical project
By DESIREE TRESA GASPER
JOHOR BARU: About 30 people staged a peaceful protest against the clearing of 930ha of mangroves in Sungai Bin for a petrochemical project.
The protestors, carrying banners and placards, staged the hour-long protest in Tanjung Bin in Pontian last week.
Peninsular Inshore Fishermen Action Network (Jaring) president Jamaluddin Muhammad said the destruction of mangrove forests would adversely affect the livelihood of over 200 fishermen, especially from the three nearby villages.
The villages are Kampung Sungai Boh, Kampung Sungai Chengkih and Kampung Sungai Dinar.
“According to the information we received from the developer, the government has approved over 913ha of mangrove forest to be cleared for the proposed petrochemical project,” he said.
Jamaluddin added that every 1ha of mangrove forest contributed to about RM1mil in revenue for fishermen annually.
“This is because mangroves are vital fish breeding grounds and also prevent soil erosion at the nearby villages,” he said.
Jamaluddin added that the government should have gathered the people’s feedback before carrying on with the project.
“Many villagers do not even know the health risks involved when there is a petrochemical project next to their homes,” he said.
He also said they had previoulsy lodged complaints in 2008 and 2009 but did not receive any reply from the authorities.
Fisherman Hamid Ahmad, 48, from Kampung Sungai Chengkih, who was part of the group said he was worried the project could affect his family’s health.
“I am worried about the project being so close to our village. I have lived here all my life and do not want my children to suffer from health problems due to the project,” he said, adding that they had already started clearing works about one week ago.
“The proposed project is close to four major fishing villages and will affect many families,” he said, adding that many of them were fishermen and would not be able to find other jobs easily.
The protest that was held in conjunction with World Ocean Day celebrated on June 8, was jointly organised by Fisherman Association (JARING), Suara Rakyat Malaysia Johor Bahru and Save Our Seahorses.
Tanjung Piai MP Datuk Wee Jeck Seng when contacted said that he was not aware of the protest but would definitely look into the matter.
“I will talk to the village heads and seek a solution to the problem,” he said.
Source:
RSS
