Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek rebuked statement made by Dato’ Hj Che Alwi Che Ahmad from Kok Lanas state constituency where he objected to centralized pig farming.
Dr. Chua is not satisfied with some Malay leaders that purposely politicized pig farming issue and hindered the development of the said industry. He said that the modernization of centralized pig rearing area was introduced and promoted by central government and it was one of the central government’s important plan and those who will benefit from this plan is not only pig farmers but the nation as well and Dato’ Alwi who is a state assemblyman clearly did not understand BN government’s plans and strategies.
He said that the waste treatment system could efficiently reduce environment pollution but Alwi said that the system would do the opposite thing, which is to add on to pollution problem and this proved that he not only did not understand the plan of modernization in centralized pig rearing areas but also did not have basic knowledge towards pig rearing industry.
On the proposal by Awi to import pork from China, Chua said that at the moment, China is also facing the shortage of pork supply and the price is going up, since our country has the ability to provide pork for self consumption, why do we need expensive imported pork?
However, Chua, who is the former Health Minister, also admitted that no matter pork, chicken, beef or lamb, the livestock industry faces the risk of infectious disease and if said that pig is the only animal that spreads serious diseases compared to others is illogical.
He said that for example, the chicken and birds had spread the disease of pandemic flu and because of the constantly mutating virus; it has turned into a disease that kills people. Since the attack of this disease, the H5N1 flu has been recognized by WHO as one of the most dangerous infectious disease.
He added that before the case of Nipah flu, Johor had exported big amount of pigs to Singapore and the total amount went up to 150 million but Singapore has stopped importing pigs and pork from our country after the spread of the said disease.
"I fully support the centralized pig farms because our pig rearing industry has huge potential of development and the main problem now is how to assist the farmers to manage their pig farms properly and handle the waste treatment works so that the environment pollution can be minimized; the cleanliness level can be increased so that everyone could have a win-win situation,” he said.
He said that when he was still a Minister, he and Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Ting had brought the pig farm problem into the Cabined for discussion.
"The cost of setting up modernized pig farms is too high and we have proposed to the government that we can participate in providing low interest loan to pig farmers as to assist them. This proposal has basically been agreed and accepted by the then Minister of Agriculture, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,” he said.
Therefore, he is disappointed by the opinions given by some leaders that are narrow-minded. He said that often when the government announced any decision that cuts across racial line, a lot of Malay politicians will politicize the issue or racially view it; so much so that the original plan that is beneficial to the rakyat will be made complicated or even forced to be put on hold.