Rep: Don’t allow investments with ill effects

IPOH: The state government should not accept investments that can pose health threats such as those which discharge radioactive waste, said an Opposition member.

Debating on the motion of thanks on the royal address, Wong Kah Woh (Dap-canning) attributed the recent death of Cheah Kok Leong, 29, who was born with defects, to ill effects from the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant in Bukit Merah.

This sparked a verbal war with the backbenchers who called on him to provide proof.

In his speech, Wong also called on the state government to apologise to Cheah’s family.

“The state government must give its assurance that such factories will never be allowed in Perak,” he said.

The ARE plant was closed in 1992 after years of protests by citizens and is still undergoing a massive Rm303mil clean-up.

State executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman urged Wong to speak based on facts and not merely make accusations.

She said it was not right for him to blame the death of one person on ARE.

Several Barisan Nasional assemblymen then asked Wong if there were others who claimed to have suffered from the radiation effects.

They also claimed that it was not right for Wong to blame the death of one person on the effects of the radiation, saying that there must be proof.