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Ong Ka Ting once again failed to face the Broga/ Semenyih residents over the mega-incinerator controversy. DAP to present memo to the DOE and the WHO office in Malaysia before 25 April

 


Media Statement
by Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew

(Petaling Jaya, Monday): The residents of Broga/Semenyih and their representatives have all the reasons to feel upset on last Sunday when Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting failed to show up for a dialogue with the people at the eleventh hour.

The walkout staged by the deputy director-general of the Housing and Local Government Ministry Fong Teng Yong without a valid reason only served to aggravate the matter. Ong Ka Ting's absence has further lent credence to the belief that the government has something to hide about the RM1.5 billion incinerator, and the biggest incinerator in the world is after all "not that safe".

In a statement issued by me on April 8 this year, I said Ong Ka Ting should meet up with the Broga/Semenyih/ Kajang residents and the No Incinerator pro tem committee if he is a responsible minister.

In a "monologue" held in Semenyih on Sunday 6 April 2003, the Housing and Local Government deputy minister Datuk M. Kayveas and Hulu Langat MP Badrul Hisham Abdul Aziz had prevented the members of the pro tem committee and other concerned residents to ask questions on the mega-incinerator which might severely affect their health and well-being. The intimidating attitude shown by both Kayveas and Badrul Hisham had prompted some residents and the chairperson of the No-incinerator pro tem committee to lodge police report against them.

What has Ong got to hide if the incinerator is indeed safe and practical as claimed by every BN politician and government leaders? If the incinerator is really safe, it should not have been relocated to Broga from Kg Bohol in the first place. Ong must not deny the right to information for a project concerns the health and safety of the citizens.

To-date, no one from the BN government has put up a convincing case for the mega-incinerator. All they have said and claimed were based on the information given by the potential manufacturer of the incinerator. No potential manufacturers or suppliers of incinerators would jeopardise their own business by telling the truth or the real danger of the project.

In a meeting between the pro tem committee and the Japanese embassy in Malaysia last week, the representatives were told that the billion Ringgit soft loans for the project do not come from the Japanese government. It's Ong 's duty now to tell us the source of fund for the ill-conceived incinerator project.

Everyone must realise now that the incinerator issue is a national one, and every Malaysian (not only the local residents) has the right to say yes or no to the incinerator. No less than 1.5 million people in the Klang Valley will be seriously affected if the Broga/ Semenyih water catchment areas are contaminated by the proposed incinerator project.

After paying visit to the site personally, I have reasons to believe that the Broga site was wrongly chosen out of misinformation and disinformation of facts by certain quarters. It must really be out of mind for anyone to think of building an incinerator in such a valuable and vulnerable water catchment area!

DAP has repeatedly voice our objection to the incinerator based on safety and cost. We will submit a memorandum with alternatives to the DOE before 26 April 2003. Copies will also be sent to the local WHO office.


(21/4/2003)


* Ronnie Liu Tian Khiew, DAP national publicity secretary and DAP Selangor secretary