The government was today taken to task for failing to act swiftly to shut down a company that allegedly imported toxic material into the country for processing despite having been tipped off about it last year.

DAP member of parliament for Batu Gajah Fong Po Kuan said the government should have been proactive in the matter as it had been warned about the illegal activities at the factory in Johor.

"I am shocked by Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister S Sothinathan's statement admitting that they received information on the illegal activities of the factory late last year," said Fong in a statement released at the Parliament House.

"If they knew about it, why wasn't something done about it sooner and why wait till the media exposed the matter before acting?"

Yesterday, Taiwan said it was prepared take back nearly 11,879 tonnes of toxic industrial waste exported to Malaysia after environmental authorities found the Malaysian import licence for the shipment was bogus.

The waste was stored at the factory at Simpang Renggam, Johor, which the authorities have since sealed. Sothinathan was quoted by press reports yesterday saying that the Department of Environment had received information on alleged illegal activities at the factory late last year.

Six months

Fong called for a committee to be formed to investigate both the faked import of the toxic waste and the operations of the factory.

"The probe shouldn't be restricted to the company involved but also it should be extended into the weaknesses of the ministry which allowed this incident.

" The ministry's attitude has raised public concern. The fact that they've taken more than six months to investigate the matter needs to be explained," she added.

Commenting on the site where the toxic waste was being stored, Fong urged the authorities to designate the vicinity as restricted.

"This needs to be done to avoid any unwanted and unsafe removal of the harmful waste product."

Earlier, in Parliament, Sothinathan was grilled by both ruling and opposition members when the issue was brought up during the house debate on the Supply (Reallocation of Appropriated Expenditure) Bill 2004.

The deputy minister informed the House that he needed more time to gather 'evidence and information' prompting one backbencher to say that 'the 12,000 tonnes of toxic waste stored in the factory was evidence enough'.