Penang Gerakan regrets that the DAP is not practicing what it preaches when dealing with illegal telecommunication towers.

Penang Gerakan publicity, information and communications bureau chief Dr Thor Teong Gee said when the DAP was in the opposition, its leaders had fiercely protested against the presence of illegal towers in residential and commercial buildings, citing the towers would have negative impact on the people’s health.

“But now the DAP-led state government has failed to take action against 175 illegal towers operating in Penang despite the operators being given three deadlines on Dec 31, 2009 and June 30 and Dec 31 2010,” Dr Thor said at a press conference at the Penang Gerakan headquarters in Penang. With him were Rowena Yam, Baljit Singh from Gerakan and Tang Hiap Seng from MCA.

“They are now in power and the illegal towers are allowed to operate. Even a DAP leader had suggested that protesters be dealt with under the Seditious Act, a law DAP leaders said they were totally against,” Dr Thor added.

Dr Thor recalled that the same DAP leader had about two months back said that if the towers were dismantled, the operators should take legal action against the protesters for loss of business.

Dr Thor said the state government seemed to be showing signs of practising a fake or pirated democracy with multiple defects.

In March, Penang Telecommunications Task Force chairman Jeff Ooi had said there were now 135 illegal transmission towers in the state and their demolition would adversely impact 551,000 subscribers.

In May last year, Ooi, who is Jelutong MP, was criticized by the Penang Electromagnetic Field Alliance for threatening that federal laws including the Seditious Act should be used to deal with the protesters.

He had then accused them of “spreading unfounded rumours and unsubstantiated data” and questioned the NGOs’ credibility.

State MCA adviser Koay Kar Huah has also slammed Ooi for suggesting that affected telco companies take legal action against NGOs which are against the towers in the state, and for saying the operators should sue BN coordinators first for helping residents affected by the structures.

At the Press conference, Thor also showed reporters newspaper cuttings in 2001 which reported on a DAP protest against illegal telco towers involving current Penang state exco members Chow Kon Yeow (Padang Kota assemblyman and Tanjung MP) and Danny Law (Batu Lanchang assemblyman).

He also told reporters that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, while fishing for votes for his party in the Machap by-election in Melaka in March 2007, had protested against illegal telco towers by urging the then Penang state government to “listen to the residents’ feedback, allow participation in decision-making and practise transparency in governance”.

“What is more important, Lim said the authorities should not allow the telco towers without permits to affect health especially if they are located near schools,” said Thor.

“But see what happens after he becomes Penang chief minister? He is still blaming others while asking the telco companies to sue the people whose health is affected by the towers,” Dr Thor added.

Dr Thor said Gerakan is not asking for all telco towers to be dismantled, only those which did not follow federal guidelines and are erected very near residential homes and schools.

The municipal council’s guidelines (for Penang and Seberang Perai) say that telco towers may only be built 20-30 metres from the two types of locations.

by Editorial Desk
gerakan4u.com