LETTER | Hunt for minerals - greed, desperation or economic salvation?

LETTER | A member of Parliament has warned the Kedah government about its determined plan to mine for rare earth elements in the state.

According to news reports, PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail told Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor he will be watching closely the progress of the hunt for rare earths in the state.

It seems that some RM62 billion will be the treasure trove from untapped minerals lying buried in the virgin forests of Bukit Enggang Forest Reserve covering 20,230 hectares.

The agreement that has already been inked by the state government will in all likelihood go beyond mere soil sampling.

Raping the forest for logs in the process is anyone's guess too. It certainly will be if it is confirmed that there are precious minerals to be profited from.

You cannot dig out the rare earth metals without uprooting flora and dislodging fauna, can you?

We have to ask ourselves some hard, painful and honest to God questions.

For decades we had oil. Today in the face of a coronavirus pandemic, where has all that wealth gone?

We plundered countless trees in many of our forests (east and west of the nation) for decades. What is left? Has it made our GDP resilient or eradicated the B40 segment?

And now we are chasing after rare earth metals in Kedah. Where will it lead us to?

Will the ravaging and impoverishing coal and diamond mining in Africa teach us any lessons of foresight?

It appears that we are either greedy, desperate or out to seek economic salvation for Malaysia.

What then is this RM62 billion treasure hunt all about?

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