The Barisan Nasional (BN) ruling coalition may lose its grip over several state and parliamentary constituencies located around the proposed thermal incinerator plant in Kampung Bohol, Puchong, if the government proceeds with implementation.

Residents are up in arms against the project. BN controls five of the six parliamentary seats in the vicinity of the project, with Serdang and Lembah Pantai being the worst affected.

As part of the 'no-incinerator campaign', which asks for the plant to be relocated to a less-populated area or scrapped altogether, the Puchong residents pro tem committee has urged residents to register as voters to bring about positive changes and to safeguard their rights.

The committee's efforts to create public awareness is steadily gaining momentum. About 500 residents in and around Old Klang Road attended a talk in Taman OUG last Sunday.

An earlier public talk on Oct 6 in Bandar Kinrara, Puchong, had attracted 2,500 people. Despite the smaller audience at the second meeting, the organisers said they were encouraged by the questions and suggestions made.

Signature campaign

Pro tem secretary Lim Hoon Joo said the committee's signature campaign, launched a few months ago, would continue until the incinerator plant is relocated.

"We have collected 135,000 signatures so far and we will not stop until we get what we want," he told malaysiakini .

"We are no experts on this (matter), but we do know that the incinerator plant poses a long-term threat to life especially to the very young and the aged. There is no guarantee that the plant will be an emission-free one."

He said that even the technical expert team present at a meeting chaired by Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting, had failed to answer residents' queries satisfactorily.

The committee has been on a signature campaign and road-show with police permits to explain the proposed project, its health implications and an unresolved discrepancy in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

The discrepancy is that the EIA was approved by the Housing and Local Government Ministry and not the Department of Environment (DOE), which would have approved a project only if this complies with its criteria.

Developers silent

During the talk, pro tem legal advisor S Selvanathan asked if residents would accept a scaled-down plant able to process a maximum of 600 tonnes of waste daily instead of the planned 1,500 tonnes. The response was a resounding "No!"

An irate resident asked: "Is the government even listening to us, despite all the meetings with the minister concerned?"

Another said the campaign should cover housing developers in the area as well, since there is a possibility that the property value may depreciate with project implementation.

Committee member Amus Loo said letters had been sent to the affected developers, but that there had been no response.

"We must understand that they have to get their projects approved by the Housing and Local Government Ministry," he explained.

There was a suggestion that the campaign should be extended to Bangsar where most "government bigwigs live, so that they will know the feeling on the ground and will feel pressured to do something about this".

One resident said the committee could come up with a credible alternative for solid waste management, but was told that it was the duty of the government with all its resources to find a more acceptable solution to the problem.

Elected representatives

Asked about any involvement of elected representatives to date, the committee claimed it had written to both MPs and the State Assembly representative.

Kampung Bohol, for instance, falls under the Lembah Pantai parliamentary constituency, of which Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is the MP. Although numerous letters have been sent to her appealing for intervention, there has been no response, a committee member said.

Malaysiakini could not reach her for comments as she was said to be busy attending meetings all of today.

The committee believes that about one million people will be affected by the incinerator.

However, the Environmental Impact Assessment report says about 260,000 people live within a 5km radius of the plant. The majority are in Bukit Indah (216,400), Bukit Jalil (12,150), Kinrara (34,270) and areas within the Subang Jaya municipality.