Residents say no to telco towers - The Star

May 21, 2008

KAMPUNG Simee residents who failed to stop the erection of tele-communication towers in their village eight years ago hope the new Perak Government will listen to them.

Resident Chong Phooi Khoon said they were getting fed-up with the situation now because a telecom-munication company wanted to erect another tower.

“We have no choice but to voice our frustrations,” said the 55-year-old mini market owner after a gathering on Sunday to protest against the towers.

Chong said the residents were concerned about possible exposure to low-level radiation.

“We don’t know much about it but we are still worried about the possibility,” said Chong.

He said the telecommunication towers were erected “very close” to people’s homes.

“The one closest to my mini market is only about 7m away,” he said.

He added that the owners of the premises were paid RM1,500 a month for the towers to be erected on their buildings.

“So it is good money for the owners,” he noted.

Chong pointed out that eight years ago, there was only one tower and over the years, two more were built.

“Now, another telecommuni-cation company wants to put up one more,” he said, adding that a small village like Kampung Simee would have four towers which were too close to the residents’ homes.

Another resident Wong Yuen Hin said they had been protesting for the past eight years but to no avail.

“Now we hope the new govern-ment will look into the matter seriously,” he said.

The 58-year-old Yuen Hin said the recent gathering was the residents’ fourth attempt to ask the authorities to look into their plight.

Three years ago, they managed to obtain 800 signatures from resi-dents, said Yuen Hin who is a sales-man.

Canning assemblyman Wong Kah Woh, who attended to their protest, said he would raise the matter with the authorities.

According to information ga-thered on the erection of telecom-munication towers, Kah Woh said towers less than 45m high must be built 20m away from the homes and 10m away from commercial units.

Towers exceeding 45m high should be erected 30m away from the homes and 15m away from commercial lots, he added.