i was supposed to put this up last thursday, when the bread is still warm from the oven, so to speak. but i've decided not to because i wouldn't know what i would write after that no so nice talks with a lawyer.

i was doing court on thursday and there were an environmental case in the session court. there is one multinational company operating in shah alam was brought to the court after they let effluents into the monsoon drain. the content of the effluents were way above the approved level when the company was surprised with a visit from jabatan alam sekitar's officers.

the lawyer told the court that on the day of the incident, the main blower and the backup blower at the treatment plant located in the factory broke down thus making it not properly working to treat the byproduct.

he claimed, after the visit, the management tried their level best to undone the damage and they even sent a sample to jas to see whather it will cause serious damage to people at large.

then the lawyer said, jas told them the effluent is damaging to the aquatic habitats but not human being. and the way he said it as if, the effluent is not that damaging because it does not cause harm to human being.

i was appalled because the fact is many heavy metals like nickel and chromium cannot be treated when it goes to our normal water treatment plant. our water treatment plant operated in malaysia does not support such a complicated mechinary or system to treat raw water because it is expensive. anyway, what's better is to teach people not to pollute that to treat polluted water.

but his comment does not ends there. after the judge made the court stands down to write her decision, my friends and i were talking with the dpp when she asked the lawyer to join us. he casullay came up to us and starts making comments. he said yeah well, you do your job and write the story and they will do their job and pull their investments from our country. i was like ' what the freaking hell you are talking about', of course i didn't said it out loud but it showed clearly on my face because he didn't dare look at us.

i said well this is an environmental issue. the pollutants cannot be treated at the water treatment plant. then he said, well, you have to think about the investments about those people who would loose their jobs.

i just couldn't take that any longer. to me any multinational company should not treat this country of mine in any way they wish, polluting the environment when they can't even think of doing it in their own countries. japan for example, is very strict on environmental issues, the law suits on environmental breach can cost millions. that is why many companies in such countries like to come to malaysia because our own law is so lax in enforcement and the penalty is so little.

the company that was dragged to the court is not alien to the charge, either. it was charged in the past for the same offence, but that time (i don't know what happened) they got away with only a tap on their wrist. the offence can be punishable with fine of not more than rm100,000 and jail terms. but the company only gets rm7,000 at that time.

to me, even the workers are traitors. how can you let this happened. maybe they think, well, it;s not dumped on my backyard, so why should i care. but when the water treatment plant failed to treat contaminated water, you will start pointing fingers.

and how can you sleep in the night when someone fall sick after they ate fishes that has been contaminated. if we ourselves are not loyal and respectful to our own country, why should the foreigners.

this mentality should be eradicate or we will end up loosing our own beautiful country.