THIRTY years ago, Kg Bukit Merah in Perak was the site of a radioactive contamination and until today, residents are unsure if the area is safe or otherwise.

The state government, they said, has not informed them if it has been carrying out periodic checks at the site of an abandoned chemical factory to ensure their safety.

Their lives changed forever after Asian Rare Earth Sdn Bhd (ARE) began operations there in July 1982 to extract yttrium, a rare earth, from monazite.

Two years after the factory was set up about 100m from the kampung, the villagers noted physical defects in their newborns and at least eight leukaemia cases were confirmed.

Investigations revealed this was due to the radioactive waste originating from the factory, which was shut down in 1992 after a 32-month court battle.

While it all ended in good after a long struggle by the people and environmental groups, including the court case, locals still live in fear of contamination.

“We can’t say if it is safe or not, because we don’t know after it was handed to the state government.

“It’s up to the assemblyman and the MP to check,” Perak Anti-Radioactive Committee chairman Hew Yoon Tat told The Malaysian Insight.

The state-owned Menteri Besar Incorporated (MB Inc) took over the monitoring of the area in 2014.

Hew, who also lives in Bukit Merah, said he was involved in monitoring the demolition of the factory.

“The way they handled the demolition and the massive precautions taken showed that there was indeed something wrong at the factory.

“They started to disinfect the walls and materials before they were removed.

“The manager said they were carrying out the process carefully because they don’t want the dust to pollute the residential area.

“We are not experts but we know that that factory was hazardous (to residents).”

ARE was established in 1979 for yttrium extraction. The process also produces radioactive waste where thorium hydroxide is produced, and both monazite and the waste contained thorium, which has a half-life of 13.9 billion years.

The factory and all its materials together with several thousand tonnes of radioactive waste was fully removed by the state government to a secure facility in Bukit Kledang in 2015.

The repository is controlled and supervised by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board and maintained and monitored by MB Inc.

Bukit Merah village head Choo Choon Kee, 66, also has fears of any lingering radiation level although the factory has been shuttered down for nearly three decades now.

“Residents have died but we are not sure if it is linked to the factory. Everything might seem all right here but we are still unsure if the area is totally free from contamination.

“We don’t know if the area is free from radiation, as we have not seen the authorities checking the area nor were we informed that the area is safe.”

At present, there are 800 families living at the village.

“Many moved out during the incident. But they came back after 2000.

“We know that they have removed the radioactive waste but we don’t know what are the long-term effects.”

Resident Choo Sew Koon, 66, said they still feel that the factory site is dangerous.

“We are located very close to site. We don’t feel safe because we don’t know the long-term effects.

“We know it has been many years (since factory closed). We hope the authorities will come and check the area as we don’t know how safe it is.” – September 10, 2019.