Kepong MP Tan Seng Giaw has lashed out at an anti-incinerator NGO that criticised him for his lack of support, even taking to task a DAP colleague who has been supporting the NGO.

The DAP veteran went as far as telling fellow Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming to "mind his own business" for actively supporting the Kuala Lumpur Tak Nak Insinerator (KTI) group.

“Serdang has a gallon of problems, much more than here (Kepong), Ong should go and solve his own (constituency’s) problem, he is not from here,” Tan ( right ) told journalists when asked about the ongoing anti-incinerator movement.

He was asked to respond to KTI’s criticism for refusing to respond to its invitation in the campaign against the planned incinerator in Taman Beringin in Kepong.

Tan was conducting a site visit at Taman Kepong to highlight complaints by the public against the Railway Assets Corporation for fencing up its land which was previously used as a parking site.

He had few kind words for the group, saying: “They are not from Kepong! Who are they to represent the people there?”

The group, he claimed, was formed by a small number of people who are not from the affected area in Kepong . Therefore he is not prepared to be dragged into their debates.

“I have no intention of responding to KTI or Ong ( left ). They don’t represent anybody,” Tan added.

KTI in a briefing yesterday slammed Tan for accepting to go on a government trip to Japan to study the incinerator issue even though he had not been supportive of the anti-incinerator movement.

Ong was present at that briefing with the residents but did not weigh into KTI's criticism of his colleague.

At that event, Ong said the Tokyo model for incinerator was unconvincing as four have been suspended in the past four years alone, due to “mercury poisoning concerns.”

Tan is now serving his eighth term as the Kepong MP, since 1982.

‘Incinerators a national, not Kepong issue’

Housing, Local Government and Urban Wellbeing minister Abdul Rahman Dahlan has expressed frustration at the persistent opposition to the incinerator project.

Abdul Rahman had been quoted by The Malaysian Insider as suggesting that the people have a “picnic” in landfills to understand the need for an incinerator.

Following Seng Giaw’s remarks, Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang then played devil’s advocate, raising the matter on Twitter and drawing Abdul Rahman and Ong into the discussion.

Abdul Rahman then prodded Ong with a posting which read: “I heard YB Tan Seng Giaw not happy with you. He said why you busybody interfering in his Kepong while your Serdang has bigger problems!”

Responding to this, Ong defended his involvement in the matter, stressing it was a national issue.

“Incinerators in Malaysia is a national issue, not a Kepong issue. You are proposing at least three large-scale incinerators,” he told Abdul Rahman.