‘Improve conditions of Lake Chini’

New Straits Times » Local

‘Improve conditions of Lake Chini’


KUANTAN, PAHANG, Sun.
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More than 400 Orang Asli who live around Lake Chini near Pekan want the Government to take immediate action to improve the quality of water in the lake which they say has deteriorated in recent years.
They claim that their livelihood has been adversely affected as the number of fish in the lake has dwindled due to pollution.

Kampung Gumum Orang Asli Welfare Action Commitee secretary Nubi Sia said logging activities near the lake and its river system had aggravated the situation.

"We have learnt that more logging areas will be opened up near the lake and that can further jeopardise our source of water and income," she said at a Press conference here today.

Present were Friends of the Earth (SAM) honorary secretary M.S. Anuar Mahmod and Felda Chini Smallholders Association honorary secretary Mohd Saleh Ishak.

Nubi said most of the Orang Asli in her village depended on the lake for their livelihood.

Kampung Gumum village batin (head) Awang Alok claimed that pollution at the lake started when the Government built a dam to maintain the water level.

He said the dam, constructed in 2000, stopped the flow of water from the lake to Sungai Pahang and vice versa.

"The fish from Sungai Pahang can no longer enter the lake while the water in the lake has slowly turned black and is almost stagnant," he said.

The lake, he added, was also infested by a water weed known as ekor kucing (Cobomba sp), and "fish cannot survive in the lake due to the weed and pollution".

Anuar said SAM would help the Orang Asli community to bring their problem to the attention of authorities at the state and federal levels.