FELDA Bukit Goh is an oil palm plantation about 30km from Kuantan, and is one of the largest bauxite mines in Pahang.

After the previous Barisan Nasional government imposed a moratorium on mining in January 2015, all extraction of the aluminium ore in Bukit Goh and the dozens of other area ceased, leaving plantation owners with land that could not be used for agriculture.

Recently, Water, Land and Natural Resources Minister Dr Xavier Jayakumar announced that the moratorium will be lifted at the end of April, a move that many locals laud.

“After we let the mining companies dig and carry out their activities, the land is no longer suitable to be used for planting,” said a local settler identified only as Ripin.

“We can’t use it for development either, so why not let them continue and finish mining the bauxite and then return the land to us?

“We can then use the land for other development or start planting again,” he said.

Mat Kasim Mat Min, 71, agreed with Ripin, saying that his land had already been leased to a mining company, and after the moratorium came into effect, the plot of land was just wasting away as no development or planting activity can take place.

“Us settlers rely on the land for a living. When mining was allowed, I had a monthly income, but after the moratorium was imposed, I had none. If the moratorium is lifted, at least I can earn some money and can live more comfortably,” Kasim told The Malaysian Insight.

Prior to the moratorium, Malaysia’s annual output of bauxite ore had reached nearly 20 million tonnes in 2015, from 200,000 tonnes in 2013, placing the country as the world’s top producer and accounting for nearly half of the supply to China’s massive aluminium industry.

However, lax enforcement of regulations caused a public backlash after land and waterways in the state turned red with bauxite-mining dust, sparking health and environmental fears.

Ripin, 61, admitted that before the moratorium, the air and ground in the area was constantly blanketed with red bauxite dust.

“At that time, vehicles transporting bauxite were always moving around, so all the cars on the roadside, the houses, even the cats, were covered in a red layer of dust,” he said.

Plots of land leased out for bauxite mining are pocked with deep holes, and are no longer suitable for planting or other development unless a massive rehabilitation effort is undertaken to make the land fertile again.

It is understood that settlers with 4.4ha plots were offered RM20,000 to lease out their land for bauxite mining, and for every tonne of bauxite mined, settlers will get a further RM10,000 to RM12,000.

Another settler, Abu Seman Bakar, 80, believes the pollution seen in the past will not recur if the new government strictly enforces regulations.

He said the heavy pollution was largely because of lorries transporting bauxite through residential areas.

“There were hundreds of mining sites, some are legal, some not. It’s not the bauxite mining that is causing the pollution.”

He said local officials have also briefed settlers on how the bauxite will be handled so locals know what the new regulations and guidelines are.

Betrayal

However, not everyone is as convinced that the new government has a hold on regulations and policies to stop an environmental disaster.

Another settler, Mohd Aziz, opposed the lifting of the moratorium, saying the Pakatan Harapan government had betrayed the people of Bukit Goh.

“Before PH was in power, their leaders strongly opposed lifting the moratorium. Now that they are in power, they are lifting it. I feel betrayed, cheated,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

He urged the government to reconsider lifting the moratorium and not repeat the mistakes of the previous government. – March 5, 2019.