DAP calls for PSC on Lynas plant


by Nigel Aw
Malaysiakini
Feb 26, 2012

DAP has called on the federal government to form a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the safety of the RM700 million Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp) in Gebeng, Kuantan.

Party vice-chief Tan Seng Giaw (right) said the federal government should do so as it had called for a PSC on electoral reforms immediately after the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9 last year.

“Like the Bersih 2.0 rally, the government set up a parliamentary select committee so this should be the case (for Himpunan Hijau 2.0), a parliamentary select committee should look into Lynas,” he said.

Tan said the government must take heed of the people’s concerns and review decision to allow Lynas to operate in Malaysia, by taking into consideration of the effects caused by the now defunct Bukit Merah rare-earth refinery in Perak.

The Lamp, he said, similarly involves similar thorium waste and in the Bukit Merah case, an element believed to be responsible for the high level of leukemia cases among those living within the vicinity.

Kit Siang: Is Lamp really worth it?

Meanwhile, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang warned that if the government continues to ignore the people’s voice, it will cost them at the ballot box.

“BN has said it is confident in retaining all its seats in Pahang but today is a warning that they may lose more seats as people are concerned about the environment and good governance,” he said during a post-Himpunan Hijau 2.0 rally DAP luncheon in Kuantan this afternoon.

This, he attributed to the increasing political maturity of Malaysians which compared to Bukit Merah, are much more active in voicing out their rights.

Lim said that while the economic benefits of Lamp cannot be denied, he questioned whether it was worth the risk.

“Countries like Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan prosper without rare earth, there are plenty of other opportunities… There is no need to tale such risks for development,” he said.

  1. #1 by yhsiew on Sunday, 26 February 2012 - 10:34 pm

    ///Datuk Seri Najib Razak today dismissed concerns raised by anti-Lynas protesters, insisting the RM700 million rare earth refinery in Kuantan is “factually and scientifically” safe.

    The prime minister charged that the opposition is using the issue to gain political mileage by attacking the government to shore up local support./// – themalaysianinsider

    The PM is unlikely to heed DAP’s calls – just let BN hit the brick-wall and lose Pahang to PR.

  2. #2 by mendela on Sunday, 26 February 2012 - 10:34 pm

    If I am not wrong, the BN Gomen has already decided on at least one Nuclear Power plant to be build.

    Only the Fukushima incident and GE 13 are delaying the formal announcement of site, costs and other details.

  3. #4 by Kampong Orang on Sunday, 26 February 2012 - 11:52 pm

    Look at those samseng hired by UMNO in Penang? Just sweet talk by Najib. How to be moderate when Najib even could not be the right commander to the UMNO Penang?

    We have seen clearly both UMNO and MCA Wanita are arrogant, samseng type members.

    Beware of his smiling face, he said in Sibu “You help me I help you, If Robert Lau win, I give RM5 million”.

    He also said before in 1989 that his kris would be stained with Chinese blood.

    Now he is begging Selangor people to vote for BeEnd so that they could continue to be corrupted and suck all the money out from Malaysia.

  4. #5 by Kampong Orang on Sunday, 26 February 2012 - 11:55 pm

    By the way, beware of the MCA leaders, good talkers.

    What we have seen their leaders are supporting corrupted UMNO, are adulterer, corrupted (Ling Liong Sick), etc.

    Beware of the wolfs in sheep skin!

  5. #6 by k1980 on Monday, 27 February 2012 - 6:51 am

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/26/malaysians-protest-rare-earth-refinery

    An International Atomic Energy Agency team, which assessed the Lynas project last year, found it lacked a comprehensive long-term waste management programme and a plan to dismantle the plant once it is no longer operating.

    Malaysia’s last rare earth refinery, operated by Mitsubishi of Japan, in northern Perak state, was closed in 1992 after protests and claims that it caused birth defects and leukaemia among residents.

  6. #7 by Bigjoe on Monday, 27 February 2012 - 7:43 am

    Actually they could have avoided all this by being transparent. From the start the vast majority of people said that make sure all the i’s and t’s are disclosed in full but they chose instead to try and win this no matter what. If they argue that the waste have very low level of radioactivity, then they should have go all out to argue it but no, they decide people were too dumb to understand the complexity and they knew better when it fact, it their right to decide no matter what..

  7. #8 by k1980 on Monday, 27 February 2012 - 8:32 am

  8. #9 by dagen wanna "ABU" on Monday, 27 February 2012 - 8:47 am

    Umnoputras are now super rich, all of them. They have everything there is in this world. Now they want something more – some real excitement. They want that X factor in their lives. Suggest to them. Yeah, how about the ability to glow in the dark! Tell them to bake themselves in rare earth for a hour day for 365 days and thereafter they would glow for eternity in the dark.

  9. #10 by chilipadi9 on Friday, 23 March 2012 - 1:41 pm

    This morons will never stop at anything as long as it smells of money. We don’t want Lynas to build they facility here at all, what is so hard for our Gomen to understand. If there’s a leak where can we run to save our butt? Greedy & ruthless morons as if Chernobyl, Russia & Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster isn’t proof enough the mount of damage it had created.
    Here is one moron who wrote on the blog who thinks it is ok to let Lynas to continue their demonic work.(Kalau cakap tentang keselamatan nadir bumi…kita mungkin dah lama mati..baca seperti dibawah…

    Nadir bumi jangka jarang merujuk kepada sekumpulan mineral dengan sifat-sifat kimia yang serupa yang penting dalam pembuatan pelbagai produk berteknologi tinggi. Ia digunakan untuk membuat pelbagai barangan elektronik, termasuk telefon pintar dan televisyen skrin rata, dan boleh didapati dalam produk perindustrian khusus seperti latihan, komponen untuk kereta elektrik dan peralatan ketenteraan. Ia juga amat penting kepada teknologi tenaga baru yang bersih, antara mentol cahaya kalimantang padat untuk kereta elektrik untuk turbin angin gergasi.)

    This is sheer ignorance & arrogance. If it were that great than why did the Australian Gomen rejected them?? Get so much of money also not going to help you when you cross over to the other side idiots. I hope God will damn you all to hell and give all of you who are responsible for the approval of this plant & those Lynas group terminal Cancer with great suffering. God hear our prays.

  10. #11 by chilipadi9 on Friday, 23 March 2012 - 2:06 pm

    Oh one more thing all these dimwits who gave a GO sign to continue this work of madness are all Neanderthals, that’s the reason they can’t think nor rationalize due to their lack of common sense. They are so use to taking orders & once given the opportunity to let them be the decision maker…its like giving your 5 year old child 100 bucks for their daily school allowance.
    The saying goes, “You can take the person out of the Kampung but you can’t take the Kampung out of the person” Never seen so much $$$ in their life until they forgot the reality of like. Hello is there any brains in that coconut head of yours? I guess not…

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