High Tension in Rawang
Aug 4th, 2007 by Tian
TNB’s plan is raising tension in Rawang. Since 2005 tension began to develop between the people on one side, and TNB, State Assmeblyman Tang See Hang and MP Chan Kong Choy on the other.
In 2005, TNB proposed to construct a high tension power line to cut through the residential areas in Rawang. The affected areas include Rawang New Village, Lee Kim Sai Village, Templar Park etc.
A Action Committee against High Tension Transmission Cable was formed about one year ago. The committee has proposed an alternative route which involved only agricultural land and forest area. TNB refused to consider their proposal, yet no good reason was provided.
On the early morning of 24 July, on of the newly built pylon fell. A private car was hit but luckily nobody was injured.
The Action Committee called a press conference that morning but I was unable to attend.
On 28 July, the Action Committee called for a public meeting at Lee Kim Sai Village. The public meeting was attended by Cikgu Lee Kim Seng, William Leong (KeADILan Treasurer General) and me.
Earlier the anti high tension cable activities were mainly organized by residents of Rawang New Village. The incident last week drew in active participation from the residents of Lee Kim Sai Village.
The village was named after the ex-Youth Chief of MCA Lee Kim Sai. This suggests the village used to be a stronghold of MCA. In In my speech, I called on the villagers to put aside partisan affiliation and come out to support the protest against the high tension power line. This received good response from the people.
After the public meeting, residents went out to the power line to stage a protest. From the site of the pylon, one can clearly see the cable was less than 50metre from human habitat. The authorities often argue that there is no conclusive finding on the safe distance from electro-magnetic field of the power line. However there is no doubt that proximity to high voltage/low frequency radiation poses certain degree of health risk.
The people only demand the power line to be rerouted away from high population density areas. We cannot understand why TNB is so reluctant to redesign the transmission route.
