Press
statement of Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL)
Court granted interim suspension
of the Lynas’ Temporary Operating Licence (TOL)
September 25th, 2012
Earlier today at the Kuantan
High Court, SMSL was granted an interim stay for its application to suspend the
Lynas TOL. Essentially the TOL has now been temporarily suspended by Justice Mariana Yahya pending the court decision on 4th
October in ten days’ time.
Mr Tan Bun Teet, an
applicant to revoke the TOL and a spokesperson for SMSL
lamented, “This is a
small step in the right direction. We
hope that the court will grant a longer stay on the suspension on 4th
October until our earlier judicial review applications are properly assesses
and the appropriate judgement made later.”
On the 28th August the
Kuantan High Court accepted the following two judicial applications from SMSL:
1. To revoke the temporary operating licence
granted by the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) on 30th January to the
Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) on the ground that no detailed
environmental impact assessment (DEIA) was done and that a fresh radiological
impact assessment (RIA) and a radioactive waste management plan (RWMP) should
have been submitted to AELB for approval before the TOL was granted. This
application was lodged on behalf of Kuantan residents Mr Tan Bun Teet, Encik
Syed Talib Syed Sulaiman and Puan Hasimah Ramli by their lead counsel Bastian
Vendargon.
2. To review the decision of the Minister of
Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) not to revoke the Lynas temporary
operating licence following an appeal by a group of Kuantan residents who
together with their legal representative and experts, appeared before the MOSTI
panel with evidence of risks and harm of the project earlier this year on April
17th. This application was lodged on behalf of Kuantan residents Haji Ismail
Abu Bakar and Tan Ah Meng by their lawyer R.S. Pani.
“Today’s interim suspension of the Lynas TOL by
Justice Yahya is a welcome gesture. Of
course this is only a very temporary relief and a tiny win. We have a long way to go yet to Stop
Lynas. Kuantan is a clean and peaceful
place. We do NOT want a polluting rare
earth plant in our town.” Commented Haji
Ismail Abu Bakar.
Tomorrow 26th September SMSL lawyers
will return to the KL High Court to discuss the management of the Lynas
defamation case against SMSL. Lynas has
earlier failed to get an injunction to gag SMSL. SMSL maintains that the statement made in an
open letter to the Prime Minister of Malaysia has been made in the interest of
the public and Malaysia’s natural environmental as well as local health and
livelihoods. The statement is based on
fair comments and advice from various experts.
“The public will be waiting anxiously because we do
not wish to have a world-scale rare earth plant in our backyard.” Concluded Mr Tan
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