Families of Kim Kim river pollution victims are confident if BN comes into power, justice will be served
JOHOR BARU – The victims of Malaysia’s worst toxic disaster, the Kim Kim River catastrophe which happened here four years ago, are expecting to get justice by mid this year.
At a press conference in Pasir Gudang here on Thursday (03 March), 40 families who were affected by this tragedy was led by their counsel Kamarudin Ahmad and met the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for N42 Johor Jaya MCA’s Chan San San.
“I have to meet this candidate because she was one of the politicians and community leaders who took interest in this case and she was with the opposition then and the government of the day was the PH government under Menteri Besar Osman Sapian from Bersatu.
“We hope that she wins this election and brings this up with the new government so that this case can be solved,” Kamarudin said.
Adding on further, Kamaruddin said, during this tragedy, the then Johor government gave compensation of only RM 500 per victim if admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and RM 250 if were treated in a normal ward.
“These victims need justice. The money paid by the PH government is chicken feed and not justified at all,” he said.
When asked by reporters about the status of the case filed, Kamarudin said it is still pending due to the recent Movement Control Order (MCO).
“The hearing was supposed to be on 12 September 2021 but was vacated due to MCO and we are still waiting for a new date from the court.
“We hope to get the date anytime middle of this year,” he said.
Also present during the press conference were BN Selangor Information Chief Isham Jalil and Parti Cinta Malaysia (PCM) President Huan Chen Guan.
Political Stability
“These victims need Justice. They should not be ignored,” Isham said and hopes BN comes into power to achieve political stability.
PCM’s Huan said this is what happens when PH is in power. “They are ignorant when comes to people’s welfare. They don’t really care,” Huan said adding that PH is only good at playing the blame game pointing out the Sungai Kim Kim tragedy and hoping BN comes into power in Johor to achieve political stability and welfare of the people can be taken care of.
The tragedy, which occurred in March 2019, was alleged to have been aggravated by the then Pakatan Harapan government that brought on three damaging waves within a period of seven days.
Dubbed as the worst environmental toxic pollution disaster in the country, the Kim Kim River disaster in Pasir Gudang here shocked the nation when it affected 6,000 people with 2,775 being hospitalised. Most of these were schoolgoing children and school canteen operators who collapsed after showing symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. – New Malaysia Herald
Facebook Comments
Facebook Comments