----- 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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