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March 31, 2006

i want this to be heard

have you heard of broga.

broga is kuala lumpur's little green lung. a quiet little town 40km from kl with rubber estates, durian orchards, palm oil plantations, a lake, a dam. broga is also the chosen site for a RM2 billion project - the building of a 1500 tonne incinerator.

what is an incinerator? it is a furnace that burns rubbish. it burns and burns waste until nothing is left but ash and gas. these residues are highly toxic. the chemical by products are dioxin and furan. exposure to dioxin damages the immune system, causes birth defects and is a class one cancer causing agent.

broga is also where the semenyih dam is. this water catchment area serves 333 residential areas in klang valley, including bangsar, pj, puchong, subang, klang and shah alam. 2 million people drink from this reservoir.

the incinerator is to be built here - practically straddling our water source.

shocking?

not quite yet. observe the manner in which our government handled the project.

the proposed site was originally kampung bohol, puchong. met with strong protests and political pressure from the residents against the project, the government relented and named a new site. it took them two months to name broga. two months - almost as if decided without deliberation or in-depth study. observe the facts that they disregarded -

even if none of the above facts stand - one would think that an environmentally sensitive area such as a dam would be the last place to be considered as a site for an incinerator. let alone the world's largest incinerator.

naturally the people of broga protested. they urged the government to answer their questions. issues like the how the massive amount of waste is to be transported to the site (estimated 350 trucks a day). whether the highly noxious residue of ash resulting from the incineration is properly and responsibly disposed of. why the blatant disregard of the project's obvious environmental impact. their concerns are met with a stony wall of silence. instead of proper information dissemination from the government to placate the rightful wrath of its citizens, they ordered a media blackout.

the fight has been going on since 2003.

the community brought the selangor government to court. despite the pending lawsuit, the selangor land and mines department have diligently began acquiring land around the site in a rather disreputable manner - they issued letters to broga landowners and urged them to collect cheques from the department, they harrassed and called the residents up insisting for their account numbers to bank in the cash.

my eyes were opened by a video - a documentary of the community and its struggle filmed by ong ju lin titled "alice lives here". it used to be known as "clean shit". alice is a courageous heroine, a furniture factory clerk turned activist. alice who, despite being a devout christian, has no time for church now - her fight is all consuming. alice who spent all her pay cheque on land act law books. alice who tirelessly compiled information about incinerators and educated herself and her neighbours.

three years and her stamina is still bright.

alice who, despite the five times postponed court case, despite the media blackout, despite the giants she has to face, is still staunch in her fight against the cancer factory that sits upon our water source.

it remains to be seen what will unfold in broga. their next hearing in court is in may. till then - i hope their voices are heard loud and resoundingly.

posted by nyx at March 31, 2006 8:43 PM

Comments

hmm why no one is speaking?

Posted by: callous at April 6, 2006 11:54 PM

exactly my sentiments

Posted by: nyx at April 7, 2006 7:20 AM

did i tell u baker wanted submit a proposal for short documentary concerning human rights issue in malaysia

i initially suggested broga but i think if he submits it takes the work of these people away. So perharps we can contact them n let them submit, for wider audience mayb kan?

Asked baker to do on islamic family law or moorthy's case.

I asked him to do temenggor , little did i know it was covered already , thanks to ever resourceful ju.

if any of u guys watched the documentary its very touching. esp during the Q&A session between the director/crew and the audience. All the money is theirs. ALl started with the director wanting to try something with his new cam.

The girl alice is tough u know , imagine u work as a clerk n all that money u pump into something u strongly believe in against a corrupt government .

In the clip u can observer them approaching badawi's office, coppers asking them to bugger off, land officers refusing to speak , involvement of land officers for unnecessary reasons and direct ignorance by the government on a court injuction . Its like a typical bolehlah land where anything can be done said by them without being tried or even mentioned anywhere in media.

the lady actually called reporters , star included and after the interview was carried out , it neva made it to the papers , simply because they were told by 'higher' authorities that they shud neva publish it. For two weeks , they carried out instead wot a successful project this incinerator wud b for broga and for malayisa. Its suppose to b the biggest in asia , a typical one of em lets get it in the guinness records for absolutely no logical reason wot so eva.

They initially carried out in puchong , the puchong told them n the MP to fuck off. ANd they did, so if they can fuck off from puchong y cant they fuck off from broga? coz its a small chinese community? I seriously ask u all , with no racial intention or trying to touch on any sensitive issues, would this had happened in a malay felda area? Recently some felda settlers were settled with million over dollars each , y cant they do the same for the incinerator? Fucking build them incinerator in one of em felda areas , they wont coz its malay populated area.

Its sad to know to read all this you know, come lets do our part.
we can read n read n feel sad , but are we doing nething about it?

Posted by: -?- at April 7, 2006 9:55 AM

i have the director's email address, let me know where she can submit the documentary and i'll pass on the info

i want to do my part, and a lot of us who has seen the documentary or read about broga probably feels the same way as i do, but - where to start, how to begin, how to collect the voices singing the same tune and unite them for volume.

i believe in the power of the common people, but am at a loss on how to exert it.

Posted by: nyx at April 7, 2006 3:15 PM

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