Penang Watch

Penang WiFi project to go ahead
By ANDREA FILMER(Star)

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang Government will proceed with a free state-wide WiFi initiative under its Wireless@Penang project.

Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi said the state would proceed with the project as long as there was no conclusive evidence of health risks posed by the initiative.

“There will always be dissenting views and it is only fair that we engage them and share our information. From our perspective, it is a measured risk but we have to do things for the larger group of society.

“We do not expect to fulfil everyone’s wishes and wants, but this is only one effort and we intend to continue, with steps to face any question or doubt arising from the public,” Ooi said after a public forum on the issue on Saturday.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, who launched the forum, said Wireless@Penang was an important step to provide the basic necessities to transform Penang into an international city.

“According to the World Health Organisation, the amount of radiation absorbed by people’s bodies from a WiFi station is less than one-fifth that they receive from FM radio and televisions that surround them day and night.

“Based on this and other authoritative reports, we see that there is no conclusive evidence that a state-wide WiFi or Wimax service would pose health risks to the people of Penang,” he said, adding that no country in the world had banned the service.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) senior director Mohd Ali Hanafiah, who was a speaker at the forum, said as long as the equipment used was certified and installed following pre-existing guidelines, state-wide WiFi and WiMAX services would be safe for use.

“Usually, radiation goes hand-in-hand with the consumption of power. If a device consumes a lot of power, the radiation is normally quite strong.

“WiFi transmitters are just like handsets and the power consumed by these devices are very low.

“In fact, WiFi and WiMAX transmitters record much less radiation compared with telco towers as the area to be covered (by their signal) is much smaller,” he said.

Malaysian Nuclear Agency Radiation Safety and Health Division director Mohd Yusof Ali, who also spoke at the forum, said radiation was part and parcel of all technology.

“Even though we may not be aware of it, we are exposed to radiation from many sources ranging from radio, television and cellular signals,” he said.

University Malaya professor of medical physics Dr Ng Kwan Hoong said WiFi radiation had raised negative connotations but it was in fact less susceptible to the human body compared with radio and television signals.

“Radio and television broadcast on a lower frequency with is actually more susceptible to the human body,” he added.

Over 100 people attended the forum, including representatives from public universities and telco companies who aired opinions and concerns on the Wireless@Penang project.