Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday rejected nuclear energy as an option as Malaysia has ‘a lot of bad experience’ with radioactive materials. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

IPOH, Sept 19 ― The government should prioritise renewable energy options over non-renewable resources, non-governmental organisation Persatuan Aktivis Sahabat Alam (KUASA) said.

Chairman Hafizudin Nasarudin said Malaysia was rich in biofuel.

“But the government is more interested in having more projects. While we laud the government for not agreeing to use nuclear energy, using coal energy is no better as it is equally or more polluted,” he said.

Hafizudin said the government should encourage industries to be energy efficient.

“Have policies that are friendly on industries that uses green energy. This will help to cut down on being dependent on non-renewable energy on the long run,” he added.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday rejected nuclear energy as an option as Malaysia has “a lot of bad experience” with radioactive materials.

Hafizudin said this was unfortunate as the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) has drawn up a protocol on saving energy.

Sharing his sentiment, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) research officer S. Mageswari said Malaysia should not rely on fossil fuels.

“There is growing opposition to using energy from fossil-fuel as it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The energy sector is the biggest source of Malaysia's greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.

“The way forward is shifting towards energy efficiency, energy saving and promoting clean, sustainable renewable energy projects that will increase access to electricity without polluting local air and water or contributing to climate change,” she added.