Subject: Malaysia News
An Appeal to His Excellency Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia Your Excellency, As a concerned citizen, I would like to express deep concern over your remarks at the 4th Annual General Assembly of the United Malay National Organization (UMNO) and the recent advertisement blitz in the local news media by your government costing millions of taxpayers' money that conspicuously endorse the controversial RM1.5 billion approximately US$395 million) incinerator project in Broga/Semenyih, Selangor. This project is unpopular among certain sections of the Malaysian Rakyat and one that is causing the affected Rakyat in Broga/Semenyih a lot of distress and unhappiness at being victims of political exigencies with the relocation of the site from Puchong to roga/Semenyih. Alluding to the growing citizens' anxiety against waste incineration, Your Excellency rebuked the Rakyat of being disdainful and impertinent for blocking policies intended for the "good" of Malaysia. Your remarks come at a crucial time when the final environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Broga incinerator project is being considered. It appears to me that your words and the Housing and Local Government Ministry-sponsored advertisements will have some bearing on the final EIA report and that the project will be pushed through in spite of the health, environmental and economic concerns as persuasively expressed by the Rakyat. In your speech, Your Excellency said: "We cannot behave like people who are already rich when we are still a developing country. We have become so arrogant that the acceptable level of pollution of people who are 10 times richer than us is not good enough for us." Do you mean to say that it is tolerable for the Rakyat to suffer from a health-threatening and wasteful disposal method since Malaysia is "still a developing country"? That the Rakyat, at this stage of national development, do not deserve to enjoy the benefits of clean, healthy and sustainable alternatives to incineration? That the cancers and other diseases being suffered by communities hosting incinerators in developed countries are acceptable to Your Excellency? I hope NOT. As a medical doctor, I expect that you would put the health interest of the Rakyat over and above an industry obsessed with profit, and exert your authority to prevent the horrors of incineration from ever occurring in Malaysia. Your Excellency cannot ignore the many scientific studies demonstrating incineration as a flawed process that causes ill-health. Incinerating waste produces a toxic concoction of over 200 toxic or potentially toxic chemicals that can cause cancers, birth defects, asthma attacks, breathing ailments and allergies. In fact, four of the 12 chemicals being targeted for minimization and elimination under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are by-products of incineration, particularly dioxins, the most notorious pollutants from incinerators. Even with so-called "state-of-the-art" pollution control equipment, heavy metals and toxic chemicals are still released into the environment. I would like to inform Your Excellency that popular opposition to incinerators is worldwide. In all continents, public interest groups and affected communities have stopped incinerator plans, closed existing incinerators and lobbied for laws and regulations that forbid or restrict waste incineration. Even respected health organizations have spoken against waste incineration: the World Federation of Public Health Associations, the International Council of Nurses, the Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Health Care Without Harm, to name a few. As signatory to the Stockholm Convention, your Government is aware that the treaty has gravely implicated waste incineration as part of the global POPs catastrophe and has called for the promotion of alternative processes to prevent the formation of new POPs. I understand the concern of your Government about the management of the increasing volume of municipal discards, which certainly must be addressed to protect the health, environmental and economic interests of the nation. Fortunately, healthy, sustainable and financially viable alternatives to incinerating waste exist and are being carried out, with astounding results, in many communities. A holistic strategy that puts emphasis on waste prevention, segregation at source, recycling and composting, with active community support and participation, will render incinerators and other back-end approaches to managing discards irrelevant, protect people's health and save valuable taxpayers' money from being squandered. I believe that the long-term well-being of the Rakyat will be put at grave risk by the multi-million incinerator project. I therefore appeal to Your Excellency to rethink your position, listen to the Rakyat and cancel the entire project forthwith. I further urge Your Excellency to join the communities of citizens who are moving away from the usual burn and bury approach and are now implementing policies and measures towards clean production, zero waste and sustainable approaches to managing discards. Very sincerely yours, -- ~~~~~~ PRODUKSI BERSIH (PB) MAILING LIST ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Posting = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Berhenti = Kirim Email kosong ke mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Berlangganan = Kirim Email kosong ke mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Administrator = mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Arsip = http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ Dana Mitra Lingkungan Official Site @ http://www.dml.or.id FORLINK @ http://forlink.dml.or.id ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
