Penang, 21 July 2012 - Three years ago, Sherly Hue lived the life of a typical career woman in Kuala Lumpur, working as a marketing executive promoting building materials. But one day, she received a phone call from her worried parents that would forever change her life.
Hue’s parents, who were looking after her four-month-old son in Bukit Koman, a small village of 300 families in Raub, in the central state of Pahang, requested that he be relocated to Kuala Lumpur. A gold mining company had started operations in Raub and her parents felt it was no longer safe for the baby to remain in the village.
In 2008, a U.S. expert in mining contamination had visited the area and concluded that the gold mine did not comply with international standards and could cause long-term contamination. The facility, only 200-300 m away from the village, uses the 'carbon-in-leach’ method and consumes 400 tonnes of sodium cyanide a year.
In Kuala Lumpur, Hue sat up and took note. ”I searched on the Internet for cyanide in gold mining and found a lot of cases and accidents in many countries – even without spillages.”
Hue quickly relocated her son and her mother to Kuala Lumpur, while her father, a retired contractor-turned-smallholder, decided to remain in their village to tend to his plantation.
There was no turning back for Hue. “After I found that this project appeared harmful, I approached the secretary of the committee (opposing the gold mining operations).” She put her marketing experience to good use and proposed to the committee that it should print booklets for an awareness-raising campaign.
Hue, now 34, is vice-chairperson of the Pahang Raub Anti-Cyanide Gold Mining Committee and a key figure in Malaysia’s blossoming environmental movement.
On Oct. 9 last year, the group participated in a landmark gathering, dubbed Himpunan Hijau 1.0 (Green Gathering), at a beach in Kuantan, capital of Pahang, to endorse the 'Earth Charter’.
A paragraph from the charter encapsulated the vision for the new green movement. “Let ours be the time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life.”
Among civil society groups and activists supporting the launch were those opposing a controversial Australian rare earth refinery run by Lynas Corporation in Kuantan and those opposing high tension power cables in Rawang, central Selangor state. Also attending was the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih) and a group of indigenous 'Orang Asli’ people.
For the complete article, please see Inter Press Service.
