Pakatan to mine rare-earths in Kedah responsibly if it wins state polls, says Saifuddin
Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifudin Nasution in a speech in Kulim tonight
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This was the assurance from Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifudin Nasution in an electoral hustings, near Taman Cendana, here, tonight.
Rare-earths, Saifuddin claimed, is a very expensive mineral stressing that a kilogram of it can fetch up to RM7,000.
“If we become the government [state]. We will come up with mining regulations. We will discuss with related agencies. We will invite qualified miners.
“We will manage things well. This resource will be the state’s revenue and we will give it back to the people of Kedah.
“Today, these minerals are gone. Stolen. Why was it stolen? Because of the administrative weakness of the state government,” claimed the Pakatan Harapan secretary-general.
The REE issue in Bukit Enggang, Sik, has become a hot-button issue following a probe initiated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which made headlines a couple of weeks ago.
Consequently, Caretaker menteri besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md. Nor became the epicentre of the investigation given his position in the Menteri Besar Incorporated (MBI) which essentially owned the mined lands in Bukit Enggang.
Interestingly, on January 10, Sanusi, had urged the government to iron out the needed regulatory framework for rare-earth mining as the minerals have been stolen by those who had been under-declaring them as clay.
Rare-earth mining is currently a grey area in Malaysia given the lack of legislation and regulatory framework on it.
This was so despite the baby-steps on the matter was kickstarted back when PH became the Federal Government after winning the 2018 General Election.
Five years after, on July 14, 2023, Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad reiterated the government’s intention in coming up with the proper standard operating procedure to mine rare-earths.
