By S Pathmawathy
May 15, 11 | Malaysiakini

At least four people were arrested in Kuantan, Pahang today during at a rally organised by the anti-Lynas Advanced Material Plant (LAMP) movement.

The protestors had gathered in front of DAP’s service centre in the state capital at about 11.30am.

Barely 10 minutes into the demonstration, the police had moved in.

DAP Pahang publicity secretary Chow Yu Hui and organising secretary Lee Chin Chen as well as Khor Huey Ying and Thing Siew Shuen, from the DAP’s headquarters were arrested.

“The protest had just started for about 10 minutes.

“After speeches were delivered by the Triang rep and Pahang DAP chairperson Leong Ngah Ngah as well as member of parliament Azan Ismail (PKR-Indera Mahkota), the police interrupted and tried to grab the microphone from Anthony Loke (DAP-Rasah) when it was his turn to deliver a speech,” said DAP Serdang MP Teo Nie Ching, who was at the scene.

Teo said that after convincing the police that the representatives would stop their speeches, the four DAP reps decided to show their dissatisfaction by “lying on the anti-Lynas banner”, whereupon they were immediately arrested.

As of press time, their statements were being taken at the Kuantan district police headquarters.

According to Kuantan police chief Mohd Jasmani Yusof, the four were taken in for questioning after they refused to disperse and instead lay down on the road.

“It was the first arrest since a series of anti-rare earth protests were held here,” Bernama reported him as saying.

The proposed construction of the Rm700 million anti-rare earth plant in Gebeng, some 25km northeast of Kuantan, has sparked much public outrage over fears of potential radiation poisoning and its effects on the communities living in and around the industrial area.

Both Lynas and the government have given assurances that the plant’s operations would produce only negligible levels of radiation.

Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd is a subsidiary of Lynas Corporation of Australia.

They also said the project would differ from the controversial Asian Rare Earth factory run by Mitsubishi Chemical in Bukit Merah, Perak, that operated in the 1980s and 1990s.

Detractors unconvinced

However, opponents of the project stressed that concerns over radiation poisoning were inevitable as there has so far been no clear plan on how and where the plant’s waste materials – said to be a major source of radiation – would be disposed.

Public dialogues by the Pahang Development Corporation (PKPN) and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) have had little effect in reassuring the public.

In a move to allay growing concerns, the authorities recently announced that the UN nuclear agency International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would set up an expert panel to advise it on the potential radiation risks of the plant.

LAMP activists had earlier ignored police warnings against an illegal assembly and managed to attract some between 100-150 people to join their protest today.

Human rights NGO Suaram condemned the arrests and urged the authorities to release those detained as they were involved in a “peaceful assembly”.

Blasting the authorities’ “continued attack on freedom of expression”, Suaram’s coordinator Yap Heng Lung also criticised the police for dispersing the crowd through force.