What’s the hardest thing about being an MB?
Trying to attend meetings in the morning? Granting audiences to foreign investors and then finding time to visit village heads who complain about the pollution caused by foreign owned companies? Opening shopping malls but at the same time worrying that his wife’s retail therapy has gone overboard? Fearing the loss of his seat at the next election?
In a typical developed country, the most difficult task of someone of a position similar to an MB’s is making sure that local communities have a greater say in their future, that they are safe and that everything is done to create jobs and provide schools and housing.
Pahang MB Adnan Yaakob claims that he is helpless to act against illegal miners because they “run away” during raids. Our response to this pathetic excuse is that he should step down.
His lame excuse is becoming too common in 21st Century Malaysia, where the authorities and leaders abrogate their responsibilities because they are too afraid to be seen as tough, especially when some of the people who are responsible for dirty deeds are their close associates. MBs like Adnan should vacate their offices and leave the running of their states to people who are capable.
The problems associated with bauxite mining did not surface overnight. So Adnan cannot use the excuse that he did not see the problems coming. Opposition politicians and local communities have been raising the issue for some time, but to deaf ears.
Indonesia was the top exporter of bauxite to China until it banned ore exports in January 2014.
Data from the Minerals and Geoscience Department in Kuala Lumpur showed that in 2013, Malaysia exported 208,770 metric tons of bauxite. After the Indonesia ban had taken hold, Malaysian exports quadrupled to 962,799 metric tons.
Between January and May 2014, around 126,830 tons were exported. Over the same period in 2015, exports to China had reached 6.14 million tons.
By then, people were already complaining about the red dust and the reddish water in the rivers and seas, and said that their lungs were choked and their skin had sores. Many roadside cafés had to build walls to prevent dust from contaminating food. The walls meant that their shops were effectively hidden from the public, and business dropped.
Why is Adnan so afraid to order a halt to mining altogether? A three-month ban is ineffective. The rivers and seas and other contaminated areas need more time to recover.
Is Adnan afraid that his electorate will stop voting for him because he is preventing them from making a fast buck? He should convince them that banning bauxite mining will save their lives, their livelihoods and the environment.
Is he embarrassed to investigate the government officials who, as the MACC says, are taking bribes and are complicit in the illegal bauxite mining operations?
What else is he afraid of?
Until experts can regulate the mines, why can’t he impose a ban on bauxite mining? He should seize the machinery from the sites. At the very least, there will be no further pollution while he traces the machines to their owners and then start the prosecution process.
He should also seize the lorries carrying bauxite and check the manifest of cargo ships to trace the ore back to the illegal miners.
In an interview with the New Straits Times, Adnan claimed that his powers to act against the illegal miners were limited. He even passed the buck to the Federal Government.
In early 2015, he said that he would try to end the bauxite mining. By August, these assurances had disappeared, when he said that a ban on mining was not viable because the industry employed a large number of people.
This MB is willing to risk the health and well-being of people, the integrity of the environment and the future of the younger generation.
Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist