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| Who is most likely the Father of Toxic Nation for Malaysia ?? |
Press statement of the joint press conference March 3, 2012
of Stop Lynas Coaltion(SLC) & Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL) on
Lynas’ Radioactive Waste to be DUMPED in Pahang Tax Free while
Australia Gets A$18 million in Taxes
Australia Gets A$18 million in Taxes
Yesterday Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stated that Lynas must shift its waste away from its Gebeng plant to an isolated location ending speculation that it will be shipped out of the country. At the same time, Bloomberg reported that Western Australia will be collecting A$18millions in taxes.
“We want our PM to explain why we in Malaysia get NOT a single cent in taxes but have to accept Lynas’ radioactive waste?” queried Mr Andansura Rabu, Chairperson of SLC and Mr Tan Bun Teet, Chairperson of SMSL.
“Where are we going to dump the waste? In Temerloh, in Pekan, in Maran or in our Taman Negara? “ added Mr Rabu and Mr Tan
According to the Long Term Radioactive Waste Management plan submitted by Lynas Malaysia in its application for the licence for its rare earth refinery (Also known as Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP)) in Gebeng, the waste will have to be stored in the state of Pahang.
Following the 15,000-strong Stop Lynas rally in Kuantan and other solidarity actions throughout Malaysia, a series of erratic and contradictory statements have been made by various cabinet ministers and the Director-General of the Atomic Energy Licensing Board Raja Abdul Aziz Adnan.
Health Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai on 29th Feb 2012 said Lynas is required to move its radioactive wastes outside of Kuantan and ship them back to Australia. The statement was made after a Cabinet discussion involving three ministers in charge of regulating the Lynas project – they included the Ministers of International Trade and Industry, Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) and the Minister for Natural Resources and Environment.
AELB’s Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan insisted that Lynas’s radioactive waste will not be radioactive any more once it has been treated by Lynas. He implied that the Western Australia government can take back Lynas’ treated waste. In reality, radioactivity cannot be rid of through any form of treatments. It can only be transferred from one waste stream to another and from one kind of residue to another. In the end it is still radioactive.
The Western Australian Government through the Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore has stated twice – once in answering to questions raised by Greens MP Robin Chapple in April last year, and when asked by journalist last week – that his Government would NOT accept any radioactive waste from another country including that generated by Lynas.
Malaysia’s suggestion has essentially contravened our commitment under the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. Malaysia is a signatory to the Convention which is legally binding. It is illegal under international law to transport hazardous waste like that from the Lynas plant across national boundaries.
“The Government’s erratic, confusing and factually incorrect statements are a clear indication that it has NO IDEA what to do with Lynas’ radioactive waste. Why then do we issue the licence to Lynas? What about rakyat’s health, our livelihoods and our future?” Added Mr Rabu
SLC and SMSL are disappointed that our Government has not heed the strong opposition expressed by local residents and the voices of dissent by Malaysians in general that we do not want the Lynas plant in our country.
“Even if the Government can satisfactorily find a permanent disposal site, what about the 500 tonnes of contaminated run-off from the plant that will be drained into the Balok River and into the South China Sea EVERYDAY? What about the 100,000 cubic metre of waste gas EVERY HOUR that will be polluting our air?”concluded Mr Rabu and Mr Tan.
SLC and SMSL are giving the Government an ultimatum – either PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Administration stop the LAMP from operating in Malaysia or we will embark on a nation-wide campaign to vote this Government out.
Press Statement
Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee
3 March 2012
Najib has yet to hear the voices of the Rakyat!
The Prime Minister made a statement on 26th February 2012 that the disposal of toxic waste materials from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) must be done at a remote location far away from the local community.
This same statement was repeated by the Prime Minister yesterday. It is ironic that it was made even though the Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee has immediately responded to his earlier statement by clearly raising the concerns of the people.
Said Wong Tack, Chairperson of Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee, “This evidently shows that the PM is either still very much ill-informed of the concerns of the people or he has intentionally ignored the wishes of the people.”
“If he is still ill-informed, then we would like to know who is preventing the voices and concerns of the people from reaching our PM.”
“Is there a vicious ploy by certain parties to cut-off the people from his leadership?”
“Whatever it is, we hope our Prime Minister did not make this error in judgement intentionally. This is because a leader who turns a deaf ear to the voices of his people and shows no concern for the opinions of the people will not remain in position for long”’ Wong Tack added.
We hereby, wish to repeat one more time to our Prime Minister that his suggestion to dump the massive amount of radioactive waste far away from habitated area is totally senseless and unacceptable! His remark reflects a shallow understanding of the ecological system and blatant disrespect of natural environment.
Every inch of our motherland is a precious natural asset to our nation. The landscape of our countryside is an ecologically sensitive system of forests, rivers and food production farmlands.
Our Prime Minister must realize that the thousands of acres of land used for permanent disposal of toxic/ radioactive wastes will deprive our children and our children’s children for generations to come from getting near it for billions of years. This permanent radioactive polluting site will subject our whole nation to the risks of widespread contamination and pollutions.
Our Prime Minister must also know that the issue is not only limited to the management of the radioactive waste disposal. Every step of the processing of raw materials from cracking to leaching & purifications to separations to product finishing is highly hazardous and can cause severe irreversible harm to the environment and the wellbeing of the people.
So, how could our Prime Minister, at this highly crucial moment, still calls for a compromise and a search for a win-win situation?
Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee
3 March 2012
Najib has yet to hear the voices of the Rakyat!
The Prime Minister made a statement on 26th February 2012 that the disposal of toxic waste materials from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) must be done at a remote location far away from the local community.
This same statement was repeated by the Prime Minister yesterday. It is ironic that it was made even though the Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee has immediately responded to his earlier statement by clearly raising the concerns of the people.
Said Wong Tack, Chairperson of Himpunan Hijau Steering Committee, “This evidently shows that the PM is either still very much ill-informed of the concerns of the people or he has intentionally ignored the wishes of the people.”
“If he is still ill-informed, then we would like to know who is preventing the voices and concerns of the people from reaching our PM.”
“Is there a vicious ploy by certain parties to cut-off the people from his leadership?”
“Whatever it is, we hope our Prime Minister did not make this error in judgement intentionally. This is because a leader who turns a deaf ear to the voices of his people and shows no concern for the opinions of the people will not remain in position for long”’ Wong Tack added.
We hereby, wish to repeat one more time to our Prime Minister that his suggestion to dump the massive amount of radioactive waste far away from habitated area is totally senseless and unacceptable! His remark reflects a shallow understanding of the ecological system and blatant disrespect of natural environment.
Every inch of our motherland is a precious natural asset to our nation. The landscape of our countryside is an ecologically sensitive system of forests, rivers and food production farmlands.
Our Prime Minister must realize that the thousands of acres of land used for permanent disposal of toxic/ radioactive wastes will deprive our children and our children’s children for generations to come from getting near it for billions of years. This permanent radioactive polluting site will subject our whole nation to the risks of widespread contamination and pollutions.
Our Prime Minister must also know that the issue is not only limited to the management of the radioactive waste disposal. Every step of the processing of raw materials from cracking to leaching & purifications to separations to product finishing is highly hazardous and can cause severe irreversible harm to the environment and the wellbeing of the people.
So, how could our Prime Minister, at this highly crucial moment, still calls for a compromise and a search for a win-win situation?
“If you can’t convince them, CONFUSE them!” This is the battle cry of all salespersons in desperate need to sell their products, no matter how dubious their product may be.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is precisely what the current Najib administration is doing to the unsuspecting citizens of Malaysia. First the Health Minister said that Lynas needs to send their radioactive waste product back to Australia for disposal, if they are to be allowed to operate in Malaysia. Then a few days later, the Prime Minister announced that the hazardous waste will be transported and disposed off in a non-populated area in Malaysia itself.
For such an important issue that affects the nation’s safety and health, these two differing statements from the top two people in the Cabinet tells us how incompetent our present care-taker government is. How in the world, are we to believe that everything will be alright, when decision makers themselves are not in agreement as to what to do with the waste! Read more at http://betelnutchronicles.blogspot.com
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