Dear Sean & NST editor,
I'm extremely troubled by your article "Heeding carbon pledge" published on 26 May 2010 that alleged that the proposed coal plant in Sabah will not affect Malaysia's pledge to reduce its emission intensity by 40% by 2020.The article quoted an NRE officer Dr Lian Kok Fei claiming that Malaysia could reduce its carbon emission by adopting Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) technology. However, even Dr Lian himself admitted in paragraph 10 of the article that transfer of this new technology is not possible under the current deadlock of the global climate negotiations at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Therefore, it is truly misleading and problematic for your article to even remotely implied that the proposed plant at Sabah could utilise the CCS technology to reduce its carbon emission when this technology is extremely unlikely to be make available to Malaysia when the proposed plant is built.
It is the media's responsibility to always remain fair, accurate, and balanced. Your article above is far from accurate or balanced. If you had interview Gurmit Singh from CETDEM or other environmental NGOs, they could have rebutted Dr Lian's problematic claim immediately.
Additionally, the proposal to build a coal plant in east coast Sabah has been rejected twice by the Sabah government and Sabah people. The building of a coal plant at the current proposed site will also endanger one of most pristine coastlines of the country, including the Coral Triangle which contains 75% of the world's coral species, Tun Sakaran Marine Park, as well as the Tabin wildlife reserve. These facts were glaringly missing from your article, which would mislead readers who do not know better to think that there is nothing wrong in building the proposed coal plant.
Instead of proposing to construct a coal plant again, the federal government should fix the long delayed Southern Grip soonest possible to stabilise electricity supply from west coast to east coast Sabah. In addition, if Sabah's substantial potential for biomass as well as Tawau's potential for geothermal were well-utilised, there should be no need for a coal plant to be built!
Many of my Sabahan friends were upset reading your article. I hope NST would be more careful and balanced in its future publications. Your articles help to dictate public discourse and inform public opinion, so please be mindful of your influence.
Yours truly
Pei Ling
p/s: I think partly why I'm so upset is because this demonstrates what happens when journalists and editors ignore public interest due to their political ownership or pure ignorance...Personally, I think it's unforgivable, I would never allow myself to write or publish such misleading and irresponsible article. I give you permission to whack me if I ever allow myself to sink so low.
