{"id":63428,"date":"2025-11-23T19:47:25","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/?p=63428"},"modified":"2025-11-23T19:47:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T11:47:27","slug":"statement-on-perak-river-turning-blue-and-suspended-mining-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/press\/63428\/statement-on-perak-river-turning-blue-and-suspended-mining-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Statement on Perak River Turning Blue and Suspended Mining Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-cta\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-action-yellow-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2025\/11\/7d848589-21112025_siaran-akhbar_kenyataan-greenpeace-malaysia-berhubung-insiden-sungai-perak-bertukar-biru-dan-penggantungan-operasi-perlombongan.pdf\">Versi Bahasa Malaysia<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><strong>KUALA LUMPUR, 21 November 2025<\/strong> \u2014 Greenpeace Malaysia is deeply concerned about the Perak River turning bright blue and the subsequent suspension of mining operations by mining companies. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/malaysia-suspends-rare-earths-tin-mining-operations-after-river-water-turns-blue-2025-11-20\/\"><strong>Initial findings reported that radiation levels at the waste site reached 13 times [1]<\/strong> <\/a>above the permitted limit, raising serious questions about environmental safety, regulatory oversight, and the integrity of rare-earth and tin mining practices in Malaysia.<br><br>The decision to halt operations is necessary but it is only a first step. The suspension must be accompanied by full transparency and independent investigation. We call for:<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>1. An independent, transparent investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p>The government must convene an expert panel free of corporate influence to determine:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>the chemical cause of the river\u2019s blue discoloration,<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>the source of radiation and waste mismanagement, and<br><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>whether operators complied with their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) obligations.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>All findings must be made publicly available to ensure accountability and public confidence.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>2. Immediate community protection and river clean-up<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>Authorities must urgently assess water quality downstream, provide safe water if needed, and ensure that companies bear the full cost of remediation under the polluter-pays principle.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>3. Stronger mining regulation<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>This incident highlights systemic weaknesses. Malaysia urgently needs stricter controls on rare-earth and tin mining, real-time water monitoring requirements, tougher penalties for violations, and transparent reporting mechanisms to restore public trust.<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>4. Prioritising environmental and community rights<\/strong><strong><br><\/strong>Communities relying on the river must not be left to deal with the consequences alone. They deserve clear information, health protection, and a role in decisions about land use and remediation.<br><br><strong>Greenpeace Malaysia Campaign Lead, Heng Kiah Chun said<\/strong>:<br>The expansion of the mining industry must never come at the cost of poisoned rivers, unsafe radiation levels, and erosion of public confidence, health and safety. A clean environment is not negotiable.\u201d<br><br>In June 2025, Greenpeace launched the report <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/publication\/75188\/minerals-for-energy-transition-greenpeaces-guiding-principles\/\"><strong>Minerals for Energy Transition: Greenpeace\u2019s Guiding Principles<\/strong><\/a><strong> [2]<\/strong>, highlighting that mining will continue to pose significant risks to ecosystems, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities (IPLCs). And mining must not occur within no-go zones and its environmental impacts must be minimised, with companies acting responsibly and respecting human rights.<br><br>Incidents such as this stresses the importance of recognising and implementing the recent ASEAN declaration on environmental rights as more than guiding principles, but enforceable by law in Malaysia.<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace Malaysia stands ready to support independent monitoring, community engagement, and policy reform to prevent such incidents from recurring.<br><br>&#8211; <strong>ENDS <\/strong>&#8211;<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><br><br>[1]<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/malaysia-suspends-rare-earths-tin-mining-operations-after-river-water-turns-blue-2025-11-20\/\">https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/climate-energy\/malaysia-suspends-rare-earths-tin-mining-operations-after-river-water-turns-blue-2025-11-20\/<br><\/a>[2]<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/publication\/75188\/minerals-for-energy-transition-greenpeaces-guiding-principles\/\">https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/publication\/75188\/minerals-for-energy-transition-greenpeaces-guiding-principles\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button is-style-cta\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-action-yellow-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-malaysia-stateless\/2025\/11\/7d848589-21112025_siaran-akhbar_kenyataan-greenpeace-malaysia-berhubung-insiden-sungai-perak-bertukar-biru-dan-penggantungan-operasi-perlombongan.pdf\">Versi Bahasa Malaysia<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Greenpeace Malaysia is deeply concerned about the Perak River turning bright blue and the subsequent suspension of mining operations by mining companies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":86,"featured_media":59677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"https:\/\/statement-on-perak-river-turning-blue-and-suspended-mining-operations","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"Political &amp; Business","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[84,108],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-63428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-and-pollution","tag-environmental-justice","tag-human-rights","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/86"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63428"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63434,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63428\/revisions\/63434"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63428"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/malaysia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=63428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}