PETALING JAYA, Feb 15 — Gan Ee Seng called off plans to set himself on fire today in protest at the Pahang government’s refusal to pay RM70 million in damages — awarded by the courts to his logging company. 

Gan, who was hospitalised yesterday after forgoing food and water for more than 24 hours, said he is now undecided over his next course of action after police warned him not to proceed with plans to burn himself today.

“I may go and burn myself in front of the mentri besar’s house. But what is clear is that Barisan Nasional (BN) won’t give me justice because they don’t follow the rule of law.

“I will wait until after elections to see if BN will lose in Pahang,” the 55-year-old told reporters at Padang Kota Damansara here.

He had begun his hunger strike at the same location on Monday and fulfilled his promise of returning after being discharged from Sungai Buloh Hospital.

Gan is an investor in Kuantan-based logging firm Seruan Gemilang Makmur Sdn Bhd which won the court damages.

This was his second hunger strike.

In September last year, shareholders of Seruan Gemilang Makmur went on a relay hunger strike for about 10 days, resulting in two people collapsing and having to be sent to hospital for treatment.

Former company manager and director Lee Sin, who is still a shareholder, said police had called him to tell Gan “not to do anything extreme” and with several officers on the scene, Gan decided to back down from his threat.

Gan also said he wants the people of Pahang to know of his plight and said he will contact organisers of the Himpunan Hijau 2.0 march in Kuantan on February 26 against Lynas Corp’s controversial rare earth plant being built there.

The group has said it expects 20,000 supporters to come out in protest against the government’s decision to give the Australian miner a temporary operating license to refine rare earth despite local residents and environmentalist expressing fears of radiation pollution.

In a May 2007 decision by the Kuantan High Court, Seruan Gemilang Makmur was awarded RM37,127,471.60 in damages with eight per cent interest per annum backdated to December 31, 2000 after it won a breach of contract suit against the Pahang government and the state forestry director.

The court ruled that state government and the state Forestry Department were in breach a of logging concession contract concerning the extraction of timber logs from a 10,000-acre plot of Umno-owned land in Mukim Bebar, Pekan district.

Seruan Gemilang Makmur obtained a mandamus order from the Kuantan High Court to compel Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob to settle the amount after its attempt to demand for the judgment sum with interest was unsuccessful.

The Court of Appeal, in reversing the Kuantan High Court’s decision, ruled that Seruan Gemilang Makmur had wrongly named the mentri besar as the respondent in the judicial review proceeding in the High Court to demand for the judgment sum from the state government.