This morning (17\/4), forty (40) Kuantan residents embarked on a 300-km journey before dawn to lend their support to three residents, their lawyer and independent professional experts who will appeal to Datuk Maximus Ongkili, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to suspend licences approved by its Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) for the Lynas rare earth refinery in Gebeng near Kuantan.<\/p>\n
SMSL and their supporters and a range of civil society groups have gathered outside the office of Nuclear Malaysia in Bangi, Selangor to show their solidarity with the appeal team. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have learnt from the various experts that this refinery project is dangerous.\u00a0 It will pollute our environment and contaminate our food and water.\u00a0 Our health will be affected.\u00a0 We can get cancer from Lynas\u2019 pollution.\u201d Said Haji Ismail Abu Bakar, a Kuantan resident and SMSL\u2019s spokesperson.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cThis project must be stopped. I appeal to the Minister because so many people who will be affected from the kampung are too afraid to speak out. They do not have the means to do it. I am a retired public servant.\u00a0 I have nothing to lose to speak out.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the three appellants is Madam Abu Javalli V. Raman, another resident from Taman Tas in Ktn.\u00a0 Madam Abu Javali.\u00a0 She explained, <\/p>\n
\u201cKuantan is a clean, fresh and beautiful town.\u00a0 I love this place.\u00a0 Radiation is colourless, odourless and dangerous.\u00a0 I have visited Bukit Merah and have seen the pain, the suffering of mothers and family there.\u00a0 I will do everything possible to stop the Lynas project.\u00a0 I do not want to be another victim of rare earth pollution. We don\u2019t need this plant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Haji Ismail and Madam Abu Javalli are joined by Mr Tan Ah Meng, a lime farmer near the Lynas rare earth plant.\u00a0 Ah Meng dropped his day\u2019s work in the farm to go to Bangi for the appeal.\u00a0 He said,<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a farmer.\u00a0 I do not want Lynas\u2019 waste to become fertilisers which will be sold to farmers like me to contaminate my fruits.\u00a0 If rare earth waste is so safe, the Chinese would have sold it for money.\u00a0 Why would they dump it everywhere in Baotou to pollute the place?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Tan Bun Teet, another SMSL\u2019s spokesperson\u00a0 clarified the purpose of the appeal,<\/p>\n
\u201cSMSL has to pursue this ministerial appeal before we take the matter to the court.\u00a0 We have to prove to the court that we have exhausted all avenues.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are giving our Minister one last chance to do the right thing by the people, to exercise his power and to give due consideration to the people\u2019s well beings and the country\u2019s future and to heed our independent experts\u2019 advice.\u00a0 If the Minister failed in his duty of care to protect citizens and our nation from Lynas\u2019 harm, then SMSL will file an application through the Kuantan High Court to seek an injunction on all licences approved by the AELB for the Lynas operations.\u201d\u00a0 Concluded Mr Tan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This morning (17\/4), forty (40) Kuantan residents embarked on a 300-km journey before dawn to lend their support to three residents, their lawyer and independent professional experts who will appeal to Datuk Maximus Ongkili, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to suspend licences approved by its Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) for the Lynas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9075\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buletinonlines.net\/v7\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}