Gerakan condemned its Barisan Nasional (BN) comrades in the Pahang government today for declaring that the rare earth processing plant in Kuantan is safe and reminded Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaacob that he is no expert in the field.
“Whether or not the rare earth processing plant is safe or not is not for the Pahang mentri besar to say for he is not an expert in this field.
“The guarantee given by Lynas Corporation Ltd is also unreliable because being a profit-making company, they have conflict of interest in this matter,” Gerakan Youth secretary-general Dr Dominic Lau said in a statement today.
He was responding to a Bernama report yesterday quoting Adnan as giving his assurance that the Australian mining firm had undergone a series of screening processes involving the Malaysian Atomic Energy Licensing Board (LPTA) technical committee and other nuclear energy-related agencies before it was given an approval for the project.
The mentri besar had also urged residents in Gebeng, Kuantan not to panic or worry once the factory commences operations in September as the plant purportedly would not produce radiation as its liquid wastes would be recycled.
Despite this, numerous groups and Kuantan folk, led by its MP Fuziah Salleh of PKR, have vehemently protested against the construction of the plant and banded together recently to form a loose movement.
The group, operating under the banner “Stop Lynas Save Malaysia”, went to Parliament on Wednesday to hand over a protest memorandum to the prime minister but were turned away by the premier’s aides.
Their move has forced the government to plan a series of townhall talks to safeguard the RM700 million project.
Lau reminded the government of the radiation leaks at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan and pointed out that when the plant was constructed several years ago, the Japanese authorities had also given their assurance that the residents would be safe.
“And now we see the Japanese authorities and their nuclear experts scratching their heads over the leakages and scrambling to solve the problem. But the people’s lives are already endangered,” he said.
Lau also recalled the incident involving the rare earth plant in Bukit Merah, Perak in 1982, which was shut down in 1992 and has been linked to at least eight leukaemia cases and seven deaths.
“In 1984, environmentalist and industrial waste experts who visited the site had declared that the radiation level of the area was up to 800 times the accepted levels and it was no longer safe to stay there.
“The matter led to a petition signed against the operation together with several demonstrations and a hunger strike as a protest against the operation.
“In 1989, two children, aged 5 and 11, and a 19-year-old man were diagnosed with acute leukaemia while other cases such as brain cancer and septicaemia were also reported,” he said.
Lau urged the government to listen to people’s dissent on the plant, saying that it would be “unfair” to deprive Gebeng citizens of a safe living environment.
The Pahang government, he said, should not have permitted the construction of the plant in the first place.
“Everyone deserves a safe place and that is the purpose of having a government. Please return the people of Gebeng and also all rakyat in Malaysia their peace of mind,” he said.
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I think the MB should lead by example by building his house just beside the plant and stay there. Better still build a new administrative centre there as well.
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