----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, June 15, 2004 12:49
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Subject: Fw: [PB] Fw: Malaysia
News
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 6:46 PM
Subject: [PB] Fw: 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,
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