Bauxite mining: Stemming the crimson tide

The Road and Transport Department officers on duty checking the lorries transporting the bauxite .

Take the Kuantan exit on the East Coast Expressway at sunset, and the red sky set against a red landscape may just convince drivers they’ve taken the wrong turn into Mars.

Red dust sweeps across the landscape, shed by speeding lorries and heaps of red earth on the roadside.