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Fuziah urges Putrajaya to rescue 'dying' Tasik Chini
Published:  Mar 3, 2017 3:31 PM
Updated: 10:36 AM

Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh is urging Putrajaya to intervene in the rapid environmental decline of Tasik Chini, claiming that the Pahang government has turned a blind eye to the issue.

Pahang has not shown any concern towards Tasik Chini even though the pollution is chronic.

"I urge the federal government, which has shown some concern, to rehabilitate the lake," she said in a press statement today.

Tasik Chini is located in Pahang, about one-and-a-half hours from Kuantan. It is Malaysia’s second largest natural freshwater lake.

She was responding to a Harian Metro report highlighting the environmental destruction at Tasik Chini.

Fuziah said Tasik Chini has become a “dead lake” due to pollution caused by uncontrolled logging, mining and farming activities.

“I have obtained information from the Orang Asli living in the area saying fish from the lake is now inedible,” she said.

In early 2016, the Orang Asli in Tasik Chini expressed fears that their wells were contaminated from iron mining activities.

The Harian Metro report quoted Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia's Tasik Chini Research Centre director Dr Mushrifah Idris as saying that the famed lotus fronds at the lake have also been affected.

With years of uncontrolled development activities around it, Tasik Chini has in recent years seen a massive decline in the health of its ecosystem and consequently, tourist interest.

In response, the Pahang state government set up the research centre mentioned above to oversee conservation efforts for the lake.

Also a Special Area Plan was mooted last year to rehabilitate Tasik Chini, according to The Star Online.

However, Mushrifah warned the health of the lake will continue to decline unless uncontrolled logging, mining and farming activities surrounding the lake are stopped.

Tasik Chini is located within Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s constituency of Pekan.

Fuziah lamented that apart from Tasik Chini, enforcement on other environmental issues in Pahang has been poor.

Pahang has also been plagued by uncontrolled bauxite mining around Kuantan and excessive development and illegal farming in Cameron Highlands.

The federal government intervened on Jan 15 last year, imposing a moratorium on bauxite mining which had left parts of Kuantan covered in red dust.

The moratorium stands pending the drafting of proper standard operating procedures.

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