PETALING JAYA: Malaysia must continue to implement policies to right the historical wrongs committed by the colonial government, especially in terms of the economy, said historian and political commentator Dr Lim Teck Ghee.
Lim added that the country has been blessed with oil and natural gas, which continues to be a major source of revenue.
“However, these natural resources are not going to last forever. Optimistically, we have another 30 years at the most before the country stops producing them.
“So the country has to move forward and cannot wait for the last minute to find alternative sources of income. Being proactive is the only way forward,” he said.
While he did not specify them, Lim said Malaysia must also look into resolving social issues facing the country.
Speaking at UCSI University Tan Sri Omar Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Studies recently, Lim said he was introduced to activism in the 1970s by Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) then leader S.M. Mohamed Idris.
He also spoke about his experience of being involved in the Sungai Juru pollution issue in the mid-1980s and helping fishermen whose livelihood were affected by waste released by factories into the river.
“Villagers along the river were catching and eating poisoned fish. Only after we highlighted the matter and it became a national issue that the state government directed the factory operators to take proactive measures to stop the pollution.
“However, on the upside, while the other marine life were killed, cockles thrived and became a major source of income for the fishermen.
“They saw a marked improvement in their livelihood, and they donated some money to CAP as a show of gratitude.”
Lim said the next major issue he was involved in was the Bukit Merah radioactive pollution incident in Perak, where CAP and Sahabat Alam Malaysia helped residents to highlight the issue internationally.
“We worked to get the factory to stop extracting rare earth from the site. It was a long hard fight but in the end, the residents won.
“This was possible due to our campaigning efforts and use of the media, which helped us deal with the issue.”
He added that at the time, writing letters of complaints to government departments and ministers proved to be unsuccessful.
Lim was also involved in many other social projects, such as the urban green mapping project to help preserve green lungs in Kuala Lumpur.
“I was also involved in the land tenure study to help bring about agriculture reform during the tenure of the late prime minister Tun Abdul Razak.”
Also present at the talks were former health minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng, former deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department P. Waythamoorthy and former Batu MP Tian Chua.
