Citizens' groups from 40 countries are demanding that the Japanese government halt the export of incinerator technology, with specific reference to the controversial proposal for a RM1.5 billion municipal solid waste treatment plant on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

A petition, signed by 280 individuals and non-governmental organisations including from Malaysia, urges Japan Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to intervene and stop the project without delay.

"(The project) is being planned amid strong objections from concerned (local) communities and NGOs on environmental, health, legal and financial grounds," stated the two-page document.

"The government of Malaysia has refused to disclose the funding arrangements for the incinerator that has been proposed in Broga despite persistent queries by the local community."

The petition entitled 'No Yen to Export Harm' was submitted to the PM's office in Tokyo yesterday, together with copies handed over to the Japanese embassies in Kuala Lumpur and Manila.

Three requirements

The petitioners want Junichiro to act on the following:

1) To get the offices of the Japan Bank of International Cooperation, Japan International Cooperation Agency and related agencies to stop promoting and funding the construction of incinerators everywhere;

2) To get Japanese incinerator companies to desist from exporting harmful and unsustainable products; and,

3) To withdraw any government funding commitment for the Broga incinerator in view of strong local objections.

The Broga project, currently pending approval following an environmental impact assessment, has been proposed in an area gazetted by the Selangor government as environmentally-sensitive.

Anti-incinerator campaigners from nine other countries also faxed the petition to Japan's foreign missions with the aim of stopping the regional dumping of what they call 'dirty technology'.

A Tokyo-based pressure group, Non-Incineration Citizens of Japan, warned countries in Asia and the Pacific to "watch out for what your governments are going to receive from the most incinerator-intensive country in the world".

Its spokesperson Setsuko Yamamoto said incinerators were no longer acceptable to the Japanese due to the high number of malfunctions, explosions, fires and dioxin leaks over the last two years.

Early last year, Malaysia engaged a controversial Japanese engineering giant Ebara Corporation to design and build the 1,500-tonne capacity plant.

Open dialogue

Von Hernandez, of the Manila-based Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), objected to the use of Japanese yen loans, grants, export subsidies and guarantees to promote and/or fund Japanese incinerator projects in Broga and elsewhere.

He was concerned over the "suspected plan to use Japanese taxpayers' money" to build the giant plant in Broga.

"The zone is also a water catchment area that supplies drinking water to about 333 residential areas housing an estimated two million people.

"We hope this is not the kind of development cooperation that Japan would want to subscribe to and promote to its neighbours," he said in a GAIA petition addressed directly to Junichiro.

Hernandez added: "The high disapproval of 85 percent among residents should compel your government to critically review any Japanese financing of this controversial project."

He expressed the petitioners' wish to see governments enter into a free and open dialogue with civil society, and giving stakeholders full access to information on projects that will affect their health, livelihood and future.

"We urge you as the prime minister to ensure that any Japan-assisted projects overseas observe the fundamental principle of the 'community's right to know'.

"As the world's top donor of overseas development assistance, (you should) guarantee that affected local population are fully informed and consulted," added Hernandez.

Broga/Semenyih No Incinerator pro tem action committee chairperson Prof P Ramasamy believed that the global petition would help boost their struggle to stop the project.

"Petitioning the Japan PM adds strength to our continuing resistance and emboldens us to carry on and win our fight for environmental health and justice," he said.

"The Japan government and its agencies for overseas development aid should be sensitive to the feelings and views of the affected communities and not be seen as imposing an unwelcome project."

Class action

A class action has also been filed by 450 Broga residents against the government and authorities in their bid to stop the project.

The opposition coalition, comprising PAS and Keadilan, has pledged to scrap the incinerator should they form the state government in the March 21 national polls.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), under the United Nations Environmental Programme, requires signatory governments as well as their funding institutions and companies to shift to cleaner and safer technologies.

The instrument calls for the "minimisation with the ultimate goal of elimination" of 12 most toxic substances, including dioxin which is a by-product of incineration.

Malaysia signed the convention in May 2002 but has yet to ratify it. Of the 151 signatories, 53 are parties to the treaty which comes into effect on May 17.