Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas!

Press statement by SMSL/PSHK on 15th August 2014

PSHK/SMSL is organizing a public rally to present memorandum to all the Pahang State Assemblymen on the 17th August at the MPK Padang 1 starting 8.00 am. This is to provide the people a chance to participate in a gathering where they can get to know the people whom we elect to safeguard our well beings.

It is also an opportunity for people to voice out their concerns about the operation of Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP) which has evidently been causing anxieties among the residents. The people are concerned that the issue has been so politicized that it could never again be rationally discussed in the State Assembly. It has practically strained the bond between the people and the government! This is something that will not bode well for the good of the state!

Lynas brought in more than RM2 billion to invest in Malaysia. While its economic contribution to our economy is still debatable, the fact that it has been in operation without the social contract for almost 2 years and had generated a lot of solid wastes including that of radioactive WLP waste is undeniable. Despite the fact the Government has granted it a 2 year Temporary License, people’s immediate concern is whether this plant’s operations had been monitored adequately and the radioactive wastes generated managed safely.

In its latest quarterly report Lynas has proposed to the Department of Environment to allow them to build a road in Malaysia using the recycled radioactive WLP waste. It did not declare where it will build it. We hold the view that Lynas should have built the pilot plant which it didn’t and carried out all tests and assessments regarding the recycling of its wastes before it set up LAMP here!

CERRIE (Committee Examining Radiation Risks of Internal Emitters) Report came to the conclusion that there is no safe level of radiation while the OEKO Report stated that the practice and recycling of radioactive wastes by dilution is not practised anywhere internationally and even if it is diluted to below 1 BQ/gm, it will still be way above the BRC (Beyond Radiological Concern) level!

Should this be allowed it will turn our beloved country into Lynas’ experimentation station for recycled radioactive wastes! So is the proposal to recycle the NUF wastes into another synthetic product!

We would like to urge all our state assemblymen to take note of this matter and debate with sense and sensibility in the Dewan to ensure that all the Pahang State residents are fully protected. We are not advocating NIMB (Not In My Backyard) policy but to remind the elected people’s representative that they have a sworn duty to protect the State and the people living in Pahang.

We hereby urge all Kuantan, Balok and all residents living nearby to come out to attend the rally and serve as witnesses to an event that will refocus on treating issues that affect people’s lives as matters that deserved to be discussed rationally and resolved in the State Assembly in the best interests and benefits of the citizens!

We welcome all residents irrespective of political affiliations or inclinations to attend this rally. Your active participation is to safeguard the long term interest of our future generations.

We look forward to your presence on the 17th August 2014 at the MPK Padang 1 starting 8 am.

 For further details, kindly please contact SMSL hotline 012 982 3302