Selangor MCA supports pig farming project

By Kong See Hoh, Opalyn Mok and Llew-Ann Phang

PETALING JAYA (April 10, 2008): In stark contrast to Umno, Selangor MCA lends support to the new state government over the centralised pig farming project, and showed that it will not oppose for the sake of opposing.

Both Selangor MCA state liaison chief Datuk Ch’ng Toh Eng and his deputy, Datuk Tang See Hang, have given the thumbs-up to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim for his decision to implement the project, which was approved by the previous Barisan Nasional (BN) government, in Ladang Tumbuk, Mukim Batu in Kuala Langat.

Khalid has incurred the wrath of some non-governmental organisations, which said the project will damage the environment, and drew flak from state Umno assemblymen.

Ch’ng urged the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government to implement the project as soon as possible and disagreed with Umno’s Sementa assemblyman Datuk Abdul Rahman Palil who objected to the project by saying it may give rise to a sensitive issue as there are more Malays than people from other races staying around the pig farming area.

Abdul Rahman should not harbour such narrow-minded thinking, he said in a press statement.

Ch’ng, who is the shadow exco member monitoring the land development, finance, and state economic action committee as well as the youth and sports committee, reminded Umno elected representatives, who are up in arms against the project, that it was the previous BN state government which approved the project.

He stressed that MCA supports the project now as it did before, and will not oppose for the sake of opposing the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government.

Ch’ng urged the PR government to place the interest of the pig farmers and people above all in dealing with the pig farming issue.

He also urged the dissenting Umno assemblymen to discard their narrow-mindedness and to instead look at the broader picture of the economic benefits the pig farming industry can bring to the state.

“MCA will support all state projects that benefit the people,” he said.

Tang, who was tasked with handling the centralised pig farming issue under the previous state government, stressed that at present pig farming in the state is concentrated in Ladang Tumbuk.

He disclosed that, in fact, farms outside Ladang Tumbuk had been closed down by the previous government for polluting the environment.

He said the centralised pig farming project should not become an issue at all as it was approved by the previous Umno-dominated state government.

Defending the new government’s decision, he felt that as long as the state government can ensure that special measures are taken to ensure hygiene and non-pollution of the environment, centralised pig farming should not be a problem.

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