I refer to the Aug 19, 2003 report in The Star, 'Air quality down in Sungai Petani and Langkawi'. In a written reply to Aminuruddin Hamzah (PAS - Anak Bukit) at the Kedah State Assembly, the government stated that the air quality in Sungai Petani and Langkawi had deteriorated by 19.1 per cent and 25.9 per cent respectively in the past three years based on index readings. Furthermore the level of pollution in Merbok River and Kedah River had also risen in the same period of time.

I, as the CEO of Sungai Petani Bersih, a voluntary environmental-watch group in Sungai Petani, would like to thank the PAS representative for showing his concern and sharing our organisation's ideal of achieving a clean and healthy environment in Sungai Petani, and Kedah as a whole. I would also like to congratulate the state government for being able to see through this dark cloud of pollution and finally reveal the truth behind the present environmental situation in Kedah.

However, as far as the residents of Sungai Petani are concerned, this is nothing new. Anyone with a basic sense of sight and smell will tell you straight away that air pollution in our town has taken a turn from bad to worse throughout the years. The statistics provided by the government only help to solidify our group's own collection of photographic evidence on the pollution.

It is sad to note that nothing was mentioned about the source of this environmental disaster and what actions are to be taken by the authorities to rectify the situation. What is the use of giving us a complete set of pollution index if it does not elucidate the cause of the pollution itself? What have we to hope for if the authorities themselves do not make use of this data to solve our problems?

Allow me to guide our readers through the thick fog of factory emission and over the murky malodorous marshes of Merbok River to point out the cause of this environmental degradation.

It is very clear that the main contributors to air pollution in Sungai Petani are the numerous sawmills situated in Bakar Arang Industrial Estate, which is located right in the centre of town, surrounded by residential housing areas. These factories have been emitting thick black smoke from their wood processing activity daily for years on end. When night falls, these unscrupulous manufacturers will burn even more wood chips under the cover of darkness.

The people of Sungai Petani are breathing in toxic fumes day and night, and yet the authorities do not seem to take any concrete action against these factories. Numerous reports have been made by our group and also by individual residents to the Department of Environment, but the replies we received so far have been unsatisfactory.

We were told that the factory owners have been summoned many times and they had to pay fines of up to a few thousand dollars each. But what does the sum of a few thousand dollars mean to an industry, which rakes in millions of dollars? How can we justify this meagre monetary punishment as compensation for the health of thousands of people?

The sawmill owners might appear to comply with the summons, but as soon as the environmental officers turn their back to go home, these culprits will start to burn their wood chips and pollute the atmosphere again. This has been occurring for more than 10 years and despite our cry for help, nothing permanent has been done to stop them.

Initially there was a plan by the government to relocate the industry to a location far from the populated areas. These factories were also ordered to send their waste products to a central incinerator for disposal. But somewhere along the way, these plans became merely words on paper, and like the wood chips, they too were soon incinerated into ashes and smoke.

It is obvious that the development of the state does not take into account the conservation and preservation of our environmental quality and the health of the people. What is the significance of an increase in the per capita income of the state from RM8,931 in 2002 to RM9,123 in the second quarter of 2003 as reported in The Star, if this rise can barely cover the future treatment cost of environmental related illnesses?

Thus we are delighted by the federal government's recent rejection of a plan by the state government of Kedah to log the forest reserves of Ulu Muda using helicopters. In my opinion, if the state authorities are still unable to solve a man-made problem such as pollution, how then are they able to handle the natural disasters that will imminently result from logging activities?

In the Kedah Maju 2010 plan, the state is supposed to achieve developed status by the year 2010. Now that pollution in Sungai Petani have been confirmed scientifically, I would like to know from our leaders how they plan to solve the problem of illegal burning of wood chips that results in the degradation of our air quality.

I would also like to know whether the people of Sungai Petani are going to fall ill because of our own haste to become the first developed state in Malaysia.

But the most troubling question that lingers in my mind as I stare up into the ash-tainted sky is whether the government is working with us or with the environmental terrorists.