One of the bancyanide movement pioneers ~ Mr. Woon was attacked by stroke last night and admitted to ICU. He is in coma now.
Dear all friends, please pray for him.
Of timing .... to move on
3 years ago
Another bancyanide committee member admitted to hospital
One of the bancyanide movement pioneers ~ Mr. Woon was attacked by stroke last night and admitted to ICU. He is in coma now.
Dear all friends, please pray for him.
BERNAMA:Federal Court Grants Leave To Appeal To Bukit Koman Residents
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 11 (Bernama) -- Villagers of Kampung Bukit Koman in Raub who claim to have suffered health problems from the use of cyanide in a gold mine in the vicinty, can continue on with their legal struggle for a pollution- free environment.
This follows a decision by a three-man Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum to allow the residents' application for leave to appeal against a High Court's refusal to grant them permission to commence a judicial review.
They failed in their bid to obtain leave from the High Court on June 1 2009 to file a judicial review proceeding to challenge the Environment Director-General's decision to approve a preliminary environmental impact assessment (PEIA) report concerning the Bukit Koman gold mine which is located nearby their village.
Malanjum, who sat on the panel with Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, gave the nod on one legal question to be determined by the Federal Court.
The question of law was whether a court, in determining an application for extension of time to file a leave application, is required to consider the merits of the applicants' complaint set out in their leave application to commence a judicial review.
The High Court threw out the residents' leave application for a judicial review on grounds that there was an inordinate delay by them in filing the application and that they did not have good reasons for the court to grant an extension of time for them to file their application.
Order 53 Rule 6 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 provides that an application for leave for judicial review shall be made prompty and in any event within 40 days from the date when the grounds of the application first arose or when the decision was first communicated to the applicant.
The appellate court accepted the findings of the High Court and dismissed the residents' appeal on Aug 3 last year.
Outside the court, their lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said both the High Court and appellate court had held that the court would only look at the reasons for the delay in filing the application and not the merits of the complaint which precluded the public interest dimension.
The Environment Director-General approved the PEIA report on Jan 13, 1997. Via a letter dated Feb 21, 2008, the DG declined to acceed to the residents' request to review the PEIA and require Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (RAGMSB) to provide a detailed one.
On March 21, 2008, four representatives of the residents, Wong Kin Hoong, Chong Sow Pin, Hue Fui How and Mustapha Hussin (Mustapha passed away last night), filed leave to initiate a judicial review proceeding naming the Environment Director-General and RAGMSB.
The residents want the Environment DG to require RAGMSB to furnish a detailed EIA report as they claimed the preliminary EIA (PEIA) report submitted by the gold mining company on Aug 27, 1996 contained serious deficiencies.
They claimed the PEIA report omitted information on where and how treatment of gold mining waste should be disposed off, and also contained inadequate information on discharge of effluents.
The residents also alleged the PEIA report infringed on their fundamental rights to life and livelihood due to its omission on the facility's risks to public health and environment.
They also claimed that the PEIA preparation did not include public participation.
In their affidavit affirmed on May 12, 2009, the applicants alleged that in early February 2009, they encountered strong and noxious fumes several times a day, causing them to choke, suffer giddiness, shortness of breath, irritation to the eyes and lungs, nausea and body rashes.
Senior Federal Counsels Suzana Atan and Suhaila Haron represented the Enviroment Director-General while RAGMSB was represented by a team of lawyers led by Tan Sri Cecil Abraham.
-- BERNAMA
This follows a decision by a three-man Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum to allow the residents' application for leave to appeal against a High Court's refusal to grant them permission to commence a judicial review.
They failed in their bid to obtain leave from the High Court on June 1 2009 to file a judicial review proceeding to challenge the Environment Director-General's decision to approve a preliminary environmental impact assessment (PEIA) report concerning the Bukit Koman gold mine which is located nearby their village.
Malanjum, who sat on the panel with Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, gave the nod on one legal question to be determined by the Federal Court.
The question of law was whether a court, in determining an application for extension of time to file a leave application, is required to consider the merits of the applicants' complaint set out in their leave application to commence a judicial review.
The High Court threw out the residents' leave application for a judicial review on grounds that there was an inordinate delay by them in filing the application and that they did not have good reasons for the court to grant an extension of time for them to file their application.
Order 53 Rule 6 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 provides that an application for leave for judicial review shall be made prompty and in any event within 40 days from the date when the grounds of the application first arose or when the decision was first communicated to the applicant.
The appellate court accepted the findings of the High Court and dismissed the residents' appeal on Aug 3 last year.
Outside the court, their lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said both the High Court and appellate court had held that the court would only look at the reasons for the delay in filing the application and not the merits of the complaint which precluded the public interest dimension.
The Environment Director-General approved the PEIA report on Jan 13, 1997. Via a letter dated Feb 21, 2008, the DG declined to acceed to the residents' request to review the PEIA and require Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (RAGMSB) to provide a detailed one.
On March 21, 2008, four representatives of the residents, Wong Kin Hoong, Chong Sow Pin, Hue Fui How and Mustapha Hussin (Mustapha passed away last night), filed leave to initiate a judicial review proceeding naming the Environment Director-General and RAGMSB.
The residents want the Environment DG to require RAGMSB to furnish a detailed EIA report as they claimed the preliminary EIA (PEIA) report submitted by the gold mining company on Aug 27, 1996 contained serious deficiencies.
They claimed the PEIA report omitted information on where and how treatment of gold mining waste should be disposed off, and also contained inadequate information on discharge of effluents.
The residents also alleged the PEIA report infringed on their fundamental rights to life and livelihood due to its omission on the facility's risks to public health and environment.
They also claimed that the PEIA preparation did not include public participation.
In their affidavit affirmed on May 12, 2009, the applicants alleged that in early February 2009, they encountered strong and noxious fumes several times a day, causing them to choke, suffer giddiness, shortness of breath, irritation to the eyes and lungs, nausea and body rashes.
Senior Federal Counsels Suzana Atan and Suhaila Haron represented the Enviroment Director-General while RAGMSB was represented by a team of lawyers led by Tan Sri Cecil Abraham.
-- BERNAMA
NST:Kg Bukit Koman residents get leave to appeal Read more: Kg Bukit Koman residents get leave to appeal
PUTRAJAYA: Villagers of Kampung Bukit Koman in Raub who claim to have suffered health problems from the use of cyanide in a gold mine in the vicinty, can continue on with their legal struggle for a pollution- free environment.
This follows a decision by a three-man Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum to allow the residents' application for leave to appeal against a High Court's refusal to grant them permission to commence a judicial review.
They failed in their bid to obtain leave from the High Court on June 1 2009 to file a judicial review proceeding to challenge the Environment Director-General's decision to approve a preliminary environmental impact assessment (PEIA) report concerning the Bukit Koman gold mine which is located nearby their village.
Malanjum, who sat on the panel with Federal Court judges Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong and Datuk Ahmad Maarop, gave the nod on one legal question to be determined by the Federal Court. The question of law was whether a court, in determining an application for extension of time to file a leave application, is required to consider the merits of the applicants' complaint set out in their leave application to commence a judicial review.
The High Court threw out the residents' leave application for a judicial review on grounds that there was an inordinate delay by them in filing the application and that they did not have good reasons for the court to grant an extension of time for them to file their application.
Order 53 Rule 6 of the Rules of the High Court 1980 provides that an application for leave for judicial review shall be made prompty and in any event within 40 days from the date when the grounds of the application first arose or when the decision was first communicated to the applicant.
The appellate court accepted the findings of the High Court and dismissed the residents' appeal on Aug 3 last year.
Outside the court, their lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar said both the High Court and appellate court had held that the court would only look at the reasons for the delay in filing the application and not the merits of the complaint which precluded the public interest dimension.
The Environment Director-General approved the PEIA report on Jan 13, 1997. Via a letter dated Feb 21, 2008, the DG declined to acceed to the residents' request to review the PEIA and require Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd (RAGMSB) to provide a detailed one.
On March 21, 2008, four representatives of the residents, Wong Kin Hoong, Chong Sow Pin, Hue Fui How and Mustapha Hussin (Mustapha passed away last night), filed leave to initiate a judicial review proceeding naming the Environment Director-General and RAGMSB.
The residents want the Environment DG to require RAGMSB to furnish a detailed EIA report as they claimed the preliminary EIA (PEIA) report submitted by the gold mining company on Aug 27, 1996 contained serious deficiencies.
They claimed the PEIA report omitted information on where and how treatment of gold mining waste should be disposed off, and also contained inadequate information on discharge of effluents.
The residents also alleged the PEIA report infringed on their fundamental rights to life and livelihood due to its omission on the facility's risks to public health and environment.
They also claimed that the PEIA preparation did not include public participation.
In their affidavit affirmed on May 12, 2009, the applicants alleged that in early February 2009, they encountered strong and noxious fumes several times a day, causing them to choke, suffer giddiness, shortness of breath, irritation to the eyes and lungs, nausea and body rashes.
Senior Federal Counsels Suzana Atan and Suhaila Haron represented the Enviroment Director-General while RAGMSB was represented by a team of lawyers led by Tan Sri Cecil Abraham. -- BERNAMA
Wild Asia Heroes - The Bukit Koman community
Wild Asia nominates the villagers of Bukit Koman as our first Wild Asia Hero. The 300-odd families have been fighting an uphill battle to protect their community and the environment from potential contamination by a gold mining facility in their village. JULES ONG reports.
Our first Wild Asia Heroes nomination goes to the Anti-Cyanide Committee of Bukit Koman. For two years, the Committee has led an on-going campaign to stop the usage of cyanide in gold mining in their village. Theirs is a story of courage and resilience in the face of formidable challenges. Wild Asia highlights their struggles in the hope that their story will offer inspiration and spur people to action.
Bukit Koman is a small village of 300 families. Most of the villagers are descendants of miners from Raub, the town just next to the village, once known as the "gold capital" of Malaya.
With the resurgence of gold price, the Raub Australian Gold Mining (RAGM) company had began a multi-million dollar operation using a new method to extract gold from tailings left behind from decades of conventional mining.
This method - carbon-in-leach - has an 80% efficacy rate of extracting gold, a far more effective but expensive way compared to shaft mining. It also carries more risk. According to the project's Environment Impact Assessment, 400 tonnes of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic compound is used in the facility every year. That translates to 1.5 tonnes a day!
What's worrying the villagers is that the facility is only 100 to 200 meters from the village and any spillage would be an environmental disaster.
According to the UNEP there have been 10 mining spills between 1985 and 2000 worldwide. The worst was in Romania, where 50 to 100 tonnes of cyanide spilled into the Danube water catchment killing tonnes of fish. Cyanide vapours could be seen hovering above the water surface for days.
Bukit Koman also sits in a water catchment area crisscrossed by many rivers that feed into the Klau Dam 13 km away. In a couple of year's time, this new dam will supply water to Selangor, the most populous state in Malaysia.
In March 2008, Dr Glen C. Miller of the University of Nevada and an expert in mining contamination visited Bukit Koman. After doing an investigation, he said the gold mining facility did not follow international standards of safety and is likely to cause long-term contamination.
Worried, the villagers organised themselves and set up the Bukit Koman Action Committee Against Cyanide. They have sent numerous letters of concern and memorandums to the company and the government, demanding for transparency in the mining operations and concrete safety measures in case of spillage.
In 2008, they collected 10,000 signatures voicing their objections to the usage of cyanide in the mining facility. They also mounted a legal challenge to stop the operations in their request for a judicial review of the Environmental Impact Assessment. But their application was quashed last year.
Their many requests for a dialogue with the company and the government who had approved the mining facility have all fallen on deaf ears. RAGM had begun its full operations using cyanide since February last year.
RAGM is a Malaysian company that is wholly owned by the Peninsular Gold Limited. It is listed in the London Stock Exchange and registered in Jersey, a semi-autonomous region under the British Crown. Jersey is also dubiously known as a tax haven.
The company's main shareholder is Andrew Kam whose father, Kam Mun Wah, is a veteran politician of the Malaysian Chinese Association, a component political party of the ruling government. Its other shareholders are the daughter of the Sultan of Pahang, Puteri Seri Lela Manja and her ex-husband, Mohd Moiz.
Despite tremendous odds, the villagers of Bukit Koman have shown great fortitude to fight for their rights - their right to information, to clean air and water, and their right to life.
Because of their determination in protecting the environment and their community's well being, a vision that Wild Asia shares, we are proud to honour them as Wild Asia Heroes.
Please join us!
Many of us wish to contribute our efforts in protecting our home land
by posting bancyanide logo and calling for help @ Facebook...
by wearing green when traveling to overseas...
by creating awareness no matter where they go...
by writing about this environmental issue in their blogs...
by participating every event held to show their supports...
they are willing to do anything for the smoothness of the event...Friend, are you ready to join us?
We can do even more to save our home land.
The gold price is tremendously high, our healths and environment are now been threatening.We have nothing more to lose!Please join us!
A meeting will be held in KL on 23-11-2009（Mon）@ 8PM.
Please send email to bancyanide@gmail.com if you are concern about the life and environment .
Freedom Film Fest 2009
Freedom Film Fest is a harvest of local and international documentary feature and short films dealing with the topic of human rights, social and environmental justice.
A film named 'Peace Cyanide Hill' which tell a story about cyanide mining in Bukit Koman, was one of the films screened in Freedom Film Fest 2009.
'Bukit Koman, situated in the heart of Raub in Pahang was once known to be the "gold capital" via the promising extraction of gold. In 2009, the gold mining company and its allies decided to extract the remaining gold, this time allegedly with the use of cyanide. Fearing for their lives and health, the villagers have lodged dissent against the alleged use of cyanide. Despite these concerns, the corporation, government and legal system have thus far ignored the pleas of the desperate villagers...'
We would like to convey our highest gratitude to the producer, Thilaga Sulathireh, and everybody who took part in making the film success. Thanks for your concern towards the environment and let our voices heard through the film.
A film named 'Peace Cyanide Hill' which tell a story about cyanide mining in Bukit Koman, was one of the films screened in Freedom Film Fest 2009.
'Bukit Koman, situated in the heart of Raub in Pahang was once known to be the "gold capital" via the promising extraction of gold. In 2009, the gold mining company and its allies decided to extract the remaining gold, this time allegedly with the use of cyanide. Fearing for their lives and health, the villagers have lodged dissent against the alleged use of cyanide. Despite these concerns, the corporation, government and legal system have thus far ignored the pleas of the desperate villagers...'
We would like to convey our highest gratitude to the producer, Thilaga Sulathireh, and everybody who took part in making the film success. Thanks for your concern towards the environment and let our voices heard through the film.
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