Toxic waste: Mahathir warns of stiffer penalties

PRIME Minister Datuk Sen Dr Mahathir Mohamad, saying he was annoyed with incidences of illegal dumping of toxic waste, has warned that the government would introduce sterner penalties against offenders.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Dr Mahathir criticised opposition parties which he said had prevented the government from setting up a toxic-waste disposal site by agitating people to oppose such moves.

He was referring to two incidences of toxic-waste dumping in the past week, including one in which a Penang-based chemical firm discarded 41 drums of potassium cyanide on the resort island of Pangkor off Perak.

Newspaper reports said the cyanide was enough to kill 17 million people. The site has since been de-contaminated and legal action is being planned against the chemical company.

Asked whether the current maximum fine of M$10,000

(S$5,500) for such offenders was inadequate, Dr Mahathir replied:  "We are wise after the event. Now we know the penalty is inadequate. But if the press agitates for higher penalties, we are ready to comply.

"Normally, it is the press which protests when we want to dish out sterner penalties."

Dr Mahathir added: "I am very annoyed that this should happen at all, especially after we have been talking abp4t the dangers of dumping toxic waste." 

He said the government had been trying to choose a site to treat toxic waste but each time a place was identified, opposition political parties instigated the residents of that area to lodge protests and hold demonstrations.

"As long as we have no place to treat toxic waste such things will happen. You cannot have industry  and no toxic waste. You cannot have toxic waste and no place to treat it," he said, adding that there could never be a place that people would say was far enough from them.

"If the opposition wants protest, then they should show us one site which they say is safe for a toxic-waste treatment plant," he said.

Several sites identified In the past have been scuttled because of protests from the opposition and residents ~fl the area.

The government is bull a treatment plant in N.Sembilan which is expected also be ready soon.

MORE DRUMS FOUND

IN ANOTHER discovery of toxic-waste dumping, 28 drums believed to contain trichiorofluoromethane, an ozone-depleting chemical, were found near a football field In a housing estate in Penang on Friday.

Labels on the drums, each weighing 90.7 kg, warned that inhalation of the vapour was harmful and might cause heart irregularities, unconsciousness or death.

One of the drums was open and contained a thick yellowish substance, The Star newspaper reported yesterday.

Some of the trees nearby had withered, possibly as a result of contact with the chemical, the paper said.

The chemical is used as a cleaning agent for electronic parts. A permit from the International Trade and Industry Ministry Is needed for its import.

It is being phased out slowly in Malaysia because, like other chlorofiuorocarbons, it damages the ozone layer.

Student Saiful Sharif, 14, who was playing near the football field, said that the drums had been there for at least a month.

A resident said that he saw a small lorry dumping the drums early one morning several weeks ago.

Source : The Straits Times 26th Mar 1995

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