A Johor DAP rep has urged the state government to put out peat fires at a dumpsite in Saleng, which has affected the health of residents for the past 30 years.

Senai state assemblyperson Wong Shu Qi (right) said that she has complained to National Solid Waste Department director Nadzri Yahaya last week but was told that “rehabilitation” of the dumpsite may be difficult as the land may not be state-owned.

“We urge the state to not only solve the problem of burning peat fires, but also investigate the suspicious lease of land to private parties so that rehabilitation of the dumpsite can be up and running as soon as possible,” Wong said in a press statement.

She said that a total of 12 lots of land have been leased out, about 10 years after the site was already used as a solid waste dump. Permission were now needed from these “private parties” for the government to rehabilitate the dumpsite.

“The fire at the site has been identified as a peat fire. The cause of the problem is the methane gas produced naturally in the process of decomposition of solid waste.
 
“Therefore, this problem can only be solved through the preservation of the landfill, or a dumpsite rehabilitation process,” Wong said.

Wong urged the Johor government to first come clean on who, why and how the land was given out. Wong alleged that a check with land office in Kulai indicated that a veteran MCA party member may be one such land owner.

Besides dumpsite fires, forest fires in Pahang are said to have been responsible for moderate haze condition in Muar, Johor. Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel said the current hot and dry weather made it worse and caused suspended dust particles to be accumulated in the air.