Most of them may not have known that the group, called the Red2Green walkers, were walking 254km from Berserah, Pahang, to the Parliament building with a message: extend the moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang.

The group’s Programme Director Jefri Jaafar told FMT that the walk began on March 12.

“We would walk around 20-30 km each day and we don’t force the participants to walk too far,” he said, adding that the group had set up checkpoints along the way.

Jefri said the number of participants would vary each day due to the conditions on the journey, and that they would usually have between 20 and 50 participants each day.

The purpose of the walk, he said, was to hand over a memorandum to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar seeking an extension to the bauxite mining moratorium which is set to end on April 15.

In KL, members of the anti-Lynas group and Jingga 13 will march, next Monday (28 March) with this group to Parliament building to hand over the memorandum.

One the participants, Yeo Kim Kee, a 60 year-old retiree, said he had walked everyday despite the massive blisters on his foot.

“I have no choice because my house has been affected. I had to close it for 24 hours because there was so much dust,” he said.

The persistence of the group has also attracted the attention of a pro-environment group, The Association of National Treasures Protectors (Peka) and its president Sharifah Sabrina Syed Akil, who also owns the Tanah Aina Fareena Eco-resort, who offered to provide free lodging for the Red2Green walkers.

She told FMT that she was touched by the group’s passion, after stumbling upon them on social media.

“We support any group that wants to fight for Mother Nature. This is our main agenda. I salute these brave people who are walking so far from Kuantan to Parliament in order to save the bauxite polluted environment.

“I hope the government will be more sensitive to the Red2Green walkers. These are people who want to protect nature,” she said.