LANDOWNERS and irresponsible parties involved in illegal waste dumping activities will not escape the law, Steven Sim said today.

The deputy youth and sports minister said today the authorities will take stern action against them for polluting the environment.

Sim’s Bukit Mertajam parliamentary constituency in Penang is facing an illegal waste dump site problem described as the biggest case ever seen by the Seberang Prai Municipal Council (MPSP).

The illegal dump site in Bukit Teh is reported to be the size of six football fields. An MPSP officer said the land, formerly a sand mine, was made up of nine lots measuring nearly 17ha. 

No compromise

Sim said the local authorities have identified the lot owner.

“There will be stern action. To the culprits, including the landowner, don’t think you can escape the law.

“Even though this case is not like Sg Kim Kim, pollution by irresponsible people can harm residents,” he said, referring to the recent illegal chemical waste dumping incident in Pasir Gudang, Johor, that left thousands sick.

“There will be no compromise. We won’t take this lightly. To those responsible for this, I warn them to immediately resolve this. 

“The government will not let this go. We will find the culprits and take action against them,” he said when visiting the dump site this afternoon.

The MPSP has issued nine notices against the landowner – three for abatement of nuisance, one for tearing down an illegal structure, two over operating a business without licence and three over illegal earthworks.

The landowner was also ordered to clear the site of the waste within 20 days, dispose of the waste at proper locations designated by the MPSP and return the land condition to its original state.

Local authorities are monitoring the site, which is in a rural area surrounded by oil palm trees and chicken farms.

Lorries are now barred from the entering the property to dump more waste. The MPSP stopped one lorry this morning and impounded the vehicle. 

Mostly domestic waste

Penang Environmental Department (DoE) deputy director Abdul Aziz Parmin, who was also at the site today, said the rubbish dumped was mostly domestic waste.

“It is not scheduled waste. This is why the authorities are now looking at the landowner. But we will also look for the people who dumped the waste.

“We have taken samples from the waste and water from the old sand mine for checks,” he said.

The DoE is also investigating an adjacent area to the dump site where chemicals appear to have been discarded. This area within an oil palm estate has been sealed off.

Aziz said the department was investigating what type of chemical had been illegally disposed there.

“The substance looks oily but we don’t know what it is yet. We expect the results tomorrow. But preliminary investigations showed that it is not toxic.

“There is a delay since the chemists at the state Chemistry Department were asked to help with the Sg Kim Kim incident,” he said.

If it was an illegal disposal of scheduled waste, he said legal action can be taken under Section 34B of the Environmental Quality Act 1974.

The law prohibits the placing, depositing and disposal of scheduled wastes on land or into Malaysian waters, except at prescribed premises, without the written approval of the department’s director-general.

It is also illegal to receive or send, to give permit to receive or send, or to transit any scheduled wastes in or out of Malaysia without the department’s director-general’s written approval.

Those found guilty of the offence are liable to a maximum fine of RM500,000, up to five years’ jail, or both.

The DoE had begun looking into chemical dumping since late January. 

Aziz said when officials from the department noticed the dump site nearby, they had notified the council as the matter was not within their scope.

Laws, enforcement need improvement

Meanwhile, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) president S.M. Mohamed Idris was dismayed by news about the illegal dump site.

He raised concerns about the long-term impact of illegal dumping, which could pollute underground water bodies beneath the site.

He said if action had been taken earlier, the dump site would not had grown so big.

Machang Bubok assemblyman Lee Khai Loon had reportedly lodged reports about the dump site with the state DoE over the last three years following complaints from locals.

“It can be costly to remedy this problem. It wouldn’t be fair to use taxpayers’ money for it if the authorities have not done enough to deal with the problem,” Idris said.

“The authorities should also track where these wastes came from, who has been dumping them or who has been paying them to do it.”

Idris said there were many dump sites elsewhere in Penang, adding that the law and enforcement needed to be enhanced as irresponsible people appeared unafraid of the authorities.

“Some say a factory at the site is also illegal and has been issued a notice. How can it be still operating?” he asked, referring to a factory next to the dump site that the MPSP had found to be operating without a licence.

MPSP licencing director Mohd Faidrol Mohd Radzi said the factory, which made wood pallets, had recently applied for a licence on February 27.

“They were operating before getting the licence. They got found out because the illegal dumpsite next to it was exposed.”

The factory has seven days to stop operations or face legal action. – March 21, 2019.