Protest at Selayang Municipal Council against incinerator plan

Anti-incinerator chants reverberated in Selayang, Selangor, this morning as over 120 protesters rallied in front of the Selayang Municipal Council (MPS) office.

Banding together under a coalition called the Rawang Tolak Insinerator (RTI) Network, they demanded the authorities stop a plan to build an incinerator in Batu Arang, Rawang.

They also urged MPS president Shahman Jalaludin to put the welfare of Rawang residents above profit-making corporations that want to build the waste-to-energy (WTE) plant at the former coal mining area about 15km west of the Rawang town centre.

RTI spokesperson Abdul Hanan Abd Mokti said they hope the local government reviews its recent decision to re-zone land in Batu Arang, which effectively makes way for the incinerator.

“We hope MPS will listen to our objections. We are the taxpayers and this is our hometown.

“Our message to the MPS president - you are duty-bound to ensure the security and safety of all the people who live within your area of responsibility.

“You are responsible for the residents, not for companies or private parties that want to make a profit out of this incinerator (project),” Hanan said at the protest.

The one-hour protest began at 10am and was supported by several other pro-environment and pressure groups, including Greenpeace Malaysia and the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4).

Hanan and several representatives also handed a memorandum to MPS town planning division director Noriza Bahari, who represented Shahman.

RTI, a group that includes resident associations in Rawang, has been objecting to a plan by the Selangor state government to build an incinerator in Batu Arang under a project called Sultan Idris Shah WTE green energy plant.

The project will be overseen by Kumpulan Darul Ehsan Bhd (KDEB) Waste Management and YTL Power International Bhd.

‘Fragile area, risk of fires’

According to the coalition, Rawang residents are concerned about the location chosen by the state government, citing health and safety reasons as the incinerator would be built close to residential areas.

The closest housing to the site is just some 50m away, they added.

RTI also claimed that Batu Arang is unsuitable for such a project as the incinerator would be sitting on former open-cast coal mines, which the group said makes the land unstable and poses a risk of collapse.

RTI said there are also coal seams about 50km-long under Batu Arang, and a WTE incinerator opens the possibility of fires or an explosion.

Another speaker at the protest, Ahmad Faiz Azmir Ahmad Rafi, questioned the state authority’s logic for planning an incinerator in such a “fragile” area.

“This project should not even happen because Batu Arang is very fragile. That is why it has been declared as a heritage site,” he said.

Meanwhile, Greenpeace Malaysia representative Hamizah Shamsudeen in a speech called on MPS to respect Rawang residents’ right to live a healthy life.

“As has been raised many times before, the incinerator site is located less than one kilometre from residential areas.

“The plant poses huge safety risks to the residents and also the environment, including pollution to the air, water, and earth.

“The residents are the ones who are going to face all these risks. What would happen to them if their objections today are not heard?” she said, adding that MPS should reconsider its approval of the land rezoning.

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