Penang Gerakan Land and Anti-Corruption Committee spokesperson Hng Khoon Leng said the factory raided by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) recently had started on a small-scale in 2007.
The status of the illegal factory led to the arrest of Penang executive councillor Phee Boon Poh and the father and son pair who own the factory in question, last week.
Hng explained the company that owned the factory was incorporated on Sept 14, 2006, and started its carbon filter activities in Sungai Lembu, Bukit Mertajam, in 2007.
Hng said satellite images showed the factory was not visible in the area until Aug 31, 2008 and that this was proven with similar photos showing the same in subsequent years.
“These photographs indicate that the illegal factory was now able to operate openly.
“Could this brazen act likely be due to the protection the illegal factory received from a senior state government official?
“These satellite images further justify the investigation by the MACC,” Hng said.
Addressing the Penang government, he added: “You have been in power for more than nine years. Please man up and take responsibility.”
Hng said that the previous Gerakan-led state government was alerted to the existence of the illegal factory and reported on its activities to the Department of Environment (DoE) in May 2007.
“As a result, the small factory was investigated and some remedial works were taken to reduce its impact.
“However, nine months later in early March 2008, the DAP took over the Penang government.
“Therefore, it is totally preposterous and irresponsible of the current DAP state government to try to pin the blame for this illegal factory on the previous BN administration,” he said in a press conference yesterday.
The factory under a MACC probe was using the conventional method of burning sawdust to make activated carbon, which is used widely in air purifiers, water filters and air-conditioners.
There were 31 open burning pits, in which fires are still being put out by the firemen.
Authorities, however, had begun a graft probe on the factory, after it was revealed that the 5,000 sq metre factory in Kampung Sungai Lembu, Bukit Mertajam, does not have a proper emission control system.
The factory is located on a hill land in an oil palm estate, and it is about 1km away from the nearest residential area. The factory has been since seized by the DoE and has ceased operating.
Reports say residents in the area had been complaining about the persistent filthy air, which made them fall sick, over the past 10 years.
The Penang government had said it was fully aware that the factory was illegal, but had chosen to help the factory legalise itself as it was built before 2008, i.e. when the BN was the state government.
Recently, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng apologised to residents affected by the factory over its policy of giving leeway to pre-2008 illegal structures.
He said it would take action on all pre-2008 buildings only if BN supported this move.
Factory owner Edmund Gan told The Star they had tried their best to comply with regulations and it was not their intention to operate illegally.
He said the company had submitted to convert the hill land/agricultural land they were sitting on, but was rejected.
Gan also denied claims that the smoke from the open sawdust pits were toxic.
He told the daily that the activated carbon produced there was sent for laboratory tests before being sold.
Gan’s father, Buck Hee, said they had operated their factory in Alma, about 9km south of their present location for 30 years.
Buck Hee wondered why the villagers were complaining now after 15 years, he was reported as saying.