Lawyer and former state cabinet minister Kong Hong Ming said that he was dumbstruck by the ineptitude of the authorities judging by the first official response to his recent expose of illegal coral mining in Tawau waters.

"They are being like the proverbial ostrich, with their heads buried in the sand," said Kong, over the continued foot-dragging of authorities over the matter.

NONE State Minister for Tourism, Culture and Environment Masidi Manjun initiated an official investigation after Kong revealed the illegal sea coral mining activity.

A committee headed by William Bayo, the minister's deputy permanent secretary, was given three weeks to wrap up its probe and announce its findings which is yet to be announced.

Yesterday, Lands and Surveys Department (LSD) director, Osman Jamal, came out with a statement, saying the operator of the coral mining was given a TOL (Temporary Occupation Licence) "strictly for sea sand extraction".

He said the lease area to the operator for sea sand extraction was confined to a five-acre expanse of sea between Tawau and Semporna, near Pulau Kalumpang.

This area is the site of several famous coral reefs including Ligitan, Batung and Nusa, among others

Shoddy investigation

"What sort of statement is that from Osman after three weeks?" asked Kong, "It's shoddy investigation.

"Osman's admission that the operator had a two-year licence which expired in 2004 shows that the continuing mining activity is illegal."

" NONE If the LSD and other relevant departments had examined the operator's client list and the products stacked up at their factories, they would have proof that operator was involved in more than sea sand extraction," said Kong.

"Leaving aside the fact that the operator has been operating illegally since 2004, the licence clearly states for the purpose of sea sand mining only," said Kong.

"Now Osman is casually acknowledging that the sea sand was being taken to make fertiliser, when the licence states it is for building construction material.

"There's a difference between fertiliser and building construction material from sand (silica). You can't just use sand, from the sea or the river, to make fertiliser. This shows that they were mining sea coral (calcium carbonate)."

Sand is generally for making glass, concrete, filling roads, reclamations, building sites, and for renourishing beaches.

"I have just been given possession of a bag of material produced from sea coral mined by the operator," revealed Kong.

Photographic evidence

"I also have recent photographic evidence and stacks of invoices, product lists and client lists of the operator. What more proof does one need to prosecute the operator?" he asked.

"Obviously, the authorities have not been doing their work. If they keep up with this charade to hoodwink the public, they can be held accountable in a court of law," warned Kong. "There's a mountain of evidence out there if they care to really look."

"The client lists of the errant operator, is mostly under CNY Chemicals Sdn Bhd, CNY Bioscience Sdn Bhd and Sen Ching Kimia Sdn Bhd, all related companies," said Kong.

NONE "If anything, the list indicates that the operator, in fact, began operating several years before he applied for a TOL in 2002."

CNY stands for the initials of chemist Chai Nang Yung, apparently the wife of the operator, Lee Chai Hai, a Peninsular Malaysian.

"What I have here are 55 pages of invoices to local clients, separate from shipments to Peninsular Malaysia for the high end market," said Kong.

"It is proof that the operator was mining 3,000 metric tones of sea coral a month from the sea, not the 200 metric-tone limit on sea sand imposed as stated in the expired TOL."

The clients list included palm oil mills in Tawau, aquaculture farms and poultry farms.

Palm oil mills apparently use sea corals as a separating agent. The aquaculture farms use them initially to remove sea water, later as a detergent and, also to adjust the pH value of sea water.

Poultry farms mix the sea corals in their feedstock to help chickens lay eggs with harder shells.

Sepa caught napping

Products sold locally by the errant operator include biolime, activated biolime, activated lime, calcium lime, hydrated lime and soda ash, among others.

Biolime, for example, is described as high-grade, finely ground high soluble calcium carbonate, suitable for agricultural liming programmes.

A certificate of conformance/origin signed by Chai confirms that biolime is produced by CNY Bioscience Sdn Bhd in Tawau.

NONE Kong vowed that as the PKR Tawau Division chief, he would not rest until "the whole shameful episode of illegal coral mining" in the southeast is acknowledged by the state government and the law is allowed to take its course.

Meanwhile, Sepa (Sabah Environmental Protection Association) chief Wong Tack sent malaysiakini a message saying that any official statement on the coral mining matter would be issued by him.

The Tawau office of Sepa was caught napping when it issued a statement saying "that there was no evidence of sea coral mining in the waters off Tawau".

The statement has caused a split among activists in Sepa.

Whether Osman Jamal's statements yesterday is a sneak preview of what is to come from the official findings of the investigation committee headed William Bayo is left to seen, perhaps soon.