Actress Questions Authorities Silence On Perak Mining Project

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Actress Sharifah Sofia Syed Hussein has questioned authorities for their silence on the impact of the proposed lanthanide mining pilot project that will take place in a forest reserve in Hulu Perak.
According to the project’s EIA (environment impact assessment) report, the area is home to 11 threatened wildlife species including the endangered Malayan tiger, of which there are only 150 left in the wild.
“When you invade one’s habitat, where do you expect these animals to go? The jungle is just getting smaller and smaller. When these animals end up roaming the kampungs, you end up shooting them.
“I’m surprised other agencies such as Perhilitan (Department of Wildlife and National Parks) aren’t saying much. 
“Why is it always the NGOs who are speaking up all the time? Where are the wildlife protectors? Where are the forest keepers? Why do the rakyat have to always voice out and fight for what’s right? Not just for the people but for the planet too,” she told Malaysiakini. 
Sharifah, who was involved in ‘A Walk for Tigers’ - a 240km-long trek from Sungai Relau in Taman Negara to the Kuala Lumpur High Court - alluded that it was greed that led to such projects.
Participants of ‘A Walk for Tigers’ reaching the 235km mark“It’s just so heartbreaking to see that no matter what is happening around us, be it floods, heatwaves, diseases, polluted waters or even traffic jams, greed still remains to be the ultimate goal. 
“These people know what they’re doing, yet they don’t care about the consequences their actions will take.”
The purpose of the walk that took place earlier this month was to seek a declaration from the High Court that Malayan tigers will be driven to extinction within the next 10 years due to deforestation.
Over 3k football fields
Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad announced earlier this week that the DOE had approved the EIA for the rare earth mining last week, making it a potential new revenue stream for the state.
This was later confirmed by DOE director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar, who claimed the “not approved” status of the project on the DOE’s EIA website was possibly due to a technical error.
Saarani said the “pilot project” will be on State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC) land and the appointed company will be tasked to check if there is harmful radioactivity caused by the mining.
According to the EIA, the mining will be conducted through in-situ leaching by constructing seven hydrometallurgical plants as well as establishing injection holes and piping systems.
The project covers 11 land parcels totalling 2,161ha owned by Menteri Besar Incorporated Perak, Majlis Daerah Gerik, Felcra Bhd, and SADC. This is equivalent to about 3,026 football fields.
A national survey by the Wildlife and National Parks Department, WWF-Malaysia and other NGOs from 2016 to 2020 found there are fewer than 150 wild Malayan tigers remaining in Malaysian forests, down from about 3,000 in the 1950s.
“Loss of habitat due to rapid development, agriculture expansion, and widespread hunting has caused the population to decline to about 500 at the turn of the century,” WWF-Malaysia said.
The Malayan tiger is a protected species under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 and is classified as critically endangered under the International Union of Conservation of Nature's Red List for Threatened Species. - Mkini

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