Citing the pollution in Jenjarom, which is located in PH-held Selangor, Wee said the incident has revealed the ruling pact’s true colours, after years of trying to appear to be champions of the environment.
He called for the factory to be shut down and the owner taken to court. The factory owner must bear the costs of cleaning up, medical treatment for the victims, and compensation.
Wee cited a report by FMT, on villagers crying foul over high pollution levels allegedly caused by a nearby lead-acid battery manufacturing plant.
The factory, which has been operating since 2014, is about 300m from schools and kindergartens in Kampung Jenjarom. Its close proximity, along with that of a plastic manufacturing plant also in the vicinity, has raised concerns among residents over their health and the well-being of their children.
Wee said environmental pollution issues, such as those in Lynas and Raub, had been used by Pakatan Harapan to incite the people, while portraying Barisan Nasional (BN) as the devil and PH supposedly the angel who put people’s lives first.
“After taking over Putrajaya, they are still blaming BN, including the failure to tackle the pollution issue in Pasir Gudang. They claimed BN had been allowing the culprit to carry out his business.
“Similarly with Lynas, PH pointed fingers at us when we failed to shut down the rare earth mining plant. Even MCA is not spared.
“Now, residents in Jenjarom are facing this predicament. They are at risk of heart, brain and nerve failure, and could even die due to exposure to the lead-acid battery. Mind you, this is happening in Selangor, led by PH. So they cannot blame others,” he said in a Facebook posting.
FMT had reported that Maketab Mohamed, the former director of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Unit, had been helping the villagers to monitor the lead levels. He said there were signs of lead poisoning among the villagers and workers from the factory.
He added that laboratory tests showed high levels of lead and acid in the soil and water near the factory area, which could affect the health of nearby residents.
Wee urged the PH government to immediately shut down the battery plant and to haul the factory owner to court under Sections 34A and 34B of the Environmental Protection Act 1974.
“The health department must conduct checkups and blood tests on the 6,000 victims at the polluted area, more so when the factory is too near SJK(T) Jenjarom (1km), SJK(C) Jenjarom (1km), SMK Jenjarom (335m) and Tadika Hidayatul Ummi (222m).
“Aside from that, all battery plant workers must go through checks on their hair and blood, to ensure their health is not affected,” he said.
Wee added that thorough investigations and forensic studies by environmental and geological experts must be continued, to ascertain if the river water, or underground water, are polluted.