Press statement of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL)

Election Triumph of the Stop Lynas Campaign

Tuesday, 7 May 2013

SMSL welcome the election of all candidates committed to the Stop Lynas cause in the Kuantan and surrounding areas near the Lynas plant at general election held on 5th May in Malaysia. Two members of parliament and 3 state assemblymen who had campaigned on the Lynas issue were all voted in.

SMSL spokesperson Mr Tan Bun Teet says, “This encouragingly positive election outcome for us is most rewarding as we have staged a concerted campaign to urge the public to vote to stop Lynas. It goes to show that the majority of the people here want to see the Lynas plant shut down.”

The five candidates won a comfortable and convincing majority in their respective seats delivering a clear message that the public have overwhelmingly rejected the Lynas rare earth processing plant near Kuantan.

The plant owned by Australia’s Lynas Corporation has yet to find a safe permanent site for its massive amount of radioactive and toxic waste to date. It has several serious deficiencies as shown in the detailed analysis and evaluation by Germanany’s Oeko Institute - summary overleaf. Instead Lynas has proposed to turn its toxic waste into building and road paving materials as well as fertilisers which will result in its hazards spreading everywhere in Malaysia. This is a serious health and public safety issue for Malaysians in light of the poor track record of toxic waste management here.
Haji Ismail Abu Bakar another SMSL spokesperson explained, “For the government to issue to Lynas the licence to operate when its risks and hazards have yet been dealt with properly is unacceptable. This is why the public has voted for the opposition candidates in Kuantan and in the area near the Lynas plant. We want to send a strong message to the Government that we want the Lynas project shut down.”

Mr Tan and Haji Ismail are two of the Kuantan residents who have filed a judicial review case to revoke the Lynas temporary operating licence (TOL). This is in light of serious risks and problems related to the Lynas project which have been identified by health, scientific and engineering experts.

“If the government or Lynas think that we will end our campaign to shut down the Lynas plant with the election, they are wrong. We are now moving into a new phase of the campaign. The people have given us the mandate to fight on. With this renewed energy and newly elected political representatives, we will soldier on to end this public hazard and ill-gotten project.” Mr Tan asserted