KL to see first anti-incinerator rally next month

While the government has revealed little about the planned incinerator in Kepong, residents are gearing up for a battle which see a rally and later a march to Parliament next month.

The Kuala Lumpur Rejects Incinerator Action Committee (KTI) together with the Kepong Jinjang Anti-Incinerator Committee yesterday formally announced their cooperation and are expected to hold a rally on Nov 24.

It will be followed with a march to Parliament the following day.

In a press statement yesterday, KTI chairperson Isaiah Jacob (right) said the rally, dubbed ‘Mega Perhimpunan’ (mega gathering) will take place at Taman Metropolitan, Kepong while the march called ‘Mega Walk’ will take place from Taman Sri Murni to the Kuala Lumpur City Hall and then to Parliament.

As a prelude to the rally, Isaiah said the joint committee will target to collect 100,000 signatures in a signature drive that was first started by the Kepong Jinjang Anti-Incinerator Committee and has already hit close to 10,000 signatures.

“The committee will put up banners around the Kepong and Batu areas. In addition, our volunteers will distribute flyers to local residents.

“The committee will also hold a series of awareness ceramah in the affected areas. Prominent environmental experts and leaders of NGOs will be invited to give speeches,” he said.

‘Too costly’

In a separate statement, the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) also joined the chorus against the incinerator.

CAP president SM Mohamed Idris rubbished the government’s claim that the incinerator would be safe and clean.

“In actual fact, incineration is an outmoded system for dealing with waste and has no place in a sustainable future.

“Using incinerators would mean a sheer waste of valuable resources which could otherwise have been recovered for use, especially since these discards are highly amenable to source segregation, composting and recycling,” he said.

Mohamed Idris urged the government to take heed of the Auditor-General’s 2012 report which revealed poor management of existing incinerators in Pulau Langkawi, Pulau Pangkor, Pulau Tioman, Labuan and Cameron Highlands.