Malaysians will not challenge the
rights of Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) to sue, but they will defend
their rights to live in a safer environment.
According to Kuantan MP, Fuziah Salleh the anti-Lynas group will soldier on because this is a matter of life and death. “If we continue to allow the plant to continue on with its operations, there is no guarantee that it will be safe from contamination of the radioactive waste she said.
“No industry is one hundred percent efficient and accidents caused by human errors, do happen, whether you like it or not. Even the most advanced plants have been known to contaminate the environment. For example, the Bhopal disaster involving Union Carbide had killed thousands of people living in the area. UNOCAL, rare earth refinery plant similar to Lynas reported of 60 incidence of leakages involving radioactive waste to the amount of 600,000 US Gallons being discharged into the ground and contaminating the environment in late 1990s in Southern California.”
As a foreign investor, Lynas, she added, should be concerned about the environment which it seeks to operate in. “Nick Curtis should realize that, in his own country, the best practice for a rare earth refinery is to be located in a sparsely populated area where the water table is deep below the ground level” she said. “Why, in our homeland, should he think that he can get away by setting up the plant within the district of Gebeng, with a resident population of at least 10,000 within the 5 km radius of the plant?”
Commenting further on the issue, Fuziah said that as prime minster, Najib Razak should be concerned about the Lynas issue, since it was first raised a few months ago, despite the plant located in Gebeng, which is just about 50 kilometres away from Najib’s own constituency of Pekan.
“Is he not concerned?” she asked, citing the way Najib had responded to press enquiries about the Scorpene deal. “This appears to be his style of handling issues. Whenever he is involved in something unpopular, he prefers to remain silent. Malaysians will interpret this as his way of condoning the Lynas project.”
Fuziah said with the Himpunan Hijau 3.0 to be organised in conjunction with Bersih 3.0 on April 28, Malaysians from all walks of life will send a clear message to Nick Curtis, Najib and the entire Barisan Nasional government that “we do not welcome any industry that could potentially risk the lives of Malaysians.
According to Kuantan MP, Fuziah Salleh the anti-Lynas group will soldier on because this is a matter of life and death. “If we continue to allow the plant to continue on with its operations, there is no guarantee that it will be safe from contamination of the radioactive waste she said.
“No industry is one hundred percent efficient and accidents caused by human errors, do happen, whether you like it or not. Even the most advanced plants have been known to contaminate the environment. For example, the Bhopal disaster involving Union Carbide had killed thousands of people living in the area. UNOCAL, rare earth refinery plant similar to Lynas reported of 60 incidence of leakages involving radioactive waste to the amount of 600,000 US Gallons being discharged into the ground and contaminating the environment in late 1990s in Southern California.”
As a foreign investor, Lynas, she added, should be concerned about the environment which it seeks to operate in. “Nick Curtis should realize that, in his own country, the best practice for a rare earth refinery is to be located in a sparsely populated area where the water table is deep below the ground level” she said. “Why, in our homeland, should he think that he can get away by setting up the plant within the district of Gebeng, with a resident population of at least 10,000 within the 5 km radius of the plant?”
Commenting further on the issue, Fuziah said that as prime minster, Najib Razak should be concerned about the Lynas issue, since it was first raised a few months ago, despite the plant located in Gebeng, which is just about 50 kilometres away from Najib’s own constituency of Pekan.
“Is he not concerned?” she asked, citing the way Najib had responded to press enquiries about the Scorpene deal. “This appears to be his style of handling issues. Whenever he is involved in something unpopular, he prefers to remain silent. Malaysians will interpret this as his way of condoning the Lynas project.”
Fuziah said with the Himpunan Hijau 3.0 to be organised in conjunction with Bersih 3.0 on April 28, Malaysians from all walks of life will send a clear message to Nick Curtis, Najib and the entire Barisan Nasional government that “we do not welcome any industry that could potentially risk the lives of Malaysians.
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