Dr M says No to nuclear and Sibu

By Rahmah Ghazali
KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad is against the setting up of nuclear power plants in the country.
The 84-year-old former premier said he is opposed to anything involving nuclear energy, except for medical use.

“This is because scientists have not fully understood the power of nuclear material... it will be there for about a million years, so once you activate uranium or whatever, you cannot deactivate (it).

“So we have the problem with nuclear waste. In America, they paid the Red Indians (native Americans) to bury nuclear waste in their reserves.

“And in Malaysia, we do have nuclear waste, and perhaps the public is not quite aware of this... we had to bury the 'amang' by-product from tin-mining... we buried it very deep in Perak with concrete but the place is still not safe,” he said.

Responding to a question, the former premier said he did not know the exact location of where this waste material was buried.

“Maybe it's a national secret but I know for a fact that they had to bury this activated material,” he added.

However, Mahathir said he would not be able to stop the present government if it insisted on constructing a nuclear power plant.

“During my time, I stipulated no nuclear power plants to be built in the country,” he said.

Recently, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the government is considering plans to operate a nuclear power plant within the next 15 years in order to find cheaper energy sources.

This drew flak from the opposition and other quarters, who argued that there are other alternative energy sources.

'Useless in Sarawak'
Meanwhile, Mahathir also told reporters that he would not be campaigning for Barisan Nasional in the upcoming Sibu by-election.

“I don't think I have much influence there. Here I have some. That's why I went to Hulu Selangor. But not Sarawak, I'm useless there,” he laughed.

This Sunday's by-election will see a three-cornered fight among BN's Robert Lau, DAP's Wong Ho Leng and Independent Narawi Haron.