15,000 turned up in Raub and today Federal Court case

 

 

Of interest, a media statement issued by Ban Cyanide Action Committee (BCAC) & 902 Himpunan Hijau Raub Chairman

 

Date: 4-9-2012

Statement: Ban Cyanide in Gold Mining Action Committee (BCAC) urges public to show support to the Raub resident on September 6 at Federal Court

Himpunan Hijau Raub (FHHR) and Ban Cyanidei n Gold Mineing Action Committee (BCAC) was encouraged by the turn out of 15,000 people from all walks of life at the peaceful Green Gathering held in Raub last Sunday @2 September 2012.

The Committee wishes to take this opportunity to entend our heartfelt gratitute to individuals and organizations that help us to organize this gathering, especially comrades from other green movement, civil societies and organizations; lawyers that offered legal aids and observers; PDRM that facilitated security and traffic control; medical team that provided medical aid; volunteers and all the sponsors.

Last but not least, we wish to thank those who participate the gathering and stay until the end of the gathering despite the hot sun, your participation gives a boost to our movement.

Although the gathering is a success, and we had voice out our strong objection against the use of cyanide and other hazardous chemical compounds in extracting the gold which will continue to harm the health of the residents and pollute our living environment, but our struggle has not end yet.

The Federal Court will hear the appeal of leave application of judicial review brought by the Committee on Sept 6 2012, to seek review of the Department of Environment's approval of the Preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment report submitted by Raub Australian Gold Mining SB (RAGM).

On 2009, The High Court dismissed the leave application for judicial review with the ground that the residents were out of time to apply for judicial review. On 2011, the committee appealed to Court of Appeal but the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of High Court. The Committee then decided to appeal to Federal Court and was granted leave to appeal.

This will be the last chance for the Bukit Koman, Raub residents to seek justice through legal channel. Therefore, we urge the public to support us on Sept 6 (Thursday) , 9am at Palace of Justice, Putrajaya. We hope to see you there!

Ban Cyanide in Gold Mining, Reclaim our safe homeland!

Ban Cyanide Action Committee (BCAC) & 902 Himpunan Hijau Raub Chairman

Contact Persons:

Chairman Wong Kin Hoong : 019 -9299028 (Mandarin)

Vice Chairman Sherly Hue : 019 -2782859

Court case background:

• 13 Jan 1997, DoE approved the PEIA submitted by RAGM without the residents’ knowledge.

• 4 Dec 2006, residents learned about the usage of cyanide in the nearby gold mine and formed the “Bukit Koman Action Committee Against the Use of Cyanide in Mining of Gold” (Committee).

• October 2007, after various effort and attempts, the residents finally got hold of the PEIA and appointed experts to review the documents.

• 21 March 2008, the Committee through its lawyers filed an application for leave for judicial review to request among others the following:

a) The setting aside of the approval of the PEIA given on 13-1-1997 by the Director General (DG) of the DoE;

b) The setting aside of the DG’s decision that a Detailed EIA is not necessary;

c) Submission of a fresh DEIA by RAGM including the requirement for public participation.

• 1 June 2009, High Court dismissed the application with no order as to costs on the ground: "The application for leave for judicial review should have been brought within 40 days from the date of the approval of the PEIA or the date the villagers knew about the approval of the PEIA."

• On 3August 2011, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court decision in holding that the residents were out of time in seeking for leave for judicial review (the decision). The appeal was dismissed with no order as to costs.

• On 7 August 2011, the villagers decided to appeal to the Federal Court.

• On 11 Jan 2012, a three-man Federal Court panel chaired by the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum allowed the residents' application for leave to appeal against the High Court's decision. The appeal will be heard by the Federal Court on 6 September 2012.

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