Kuantan residents at a ceramah discussing the Lynas plant few weeks ago.The Lynas plant entrance, as construction continues.
Public pressure over the potential radiation hazard from a RM700 million Kuantan rare earth plant has forced local MCA divisions there to call for a project review.
All three divisions in the Kuantan district — Kuantan, Paya Besar and Indera Mahkota — will present a memorandum to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Maximum Ongkili in Parliament this afternoon.
“Now that they have taken the decision to approve the project, they must be responsible for it,” said MCA Kuantan chief Datuk Ti Lian Ker.
Pakatan Rakyat (PR) has been drumming up opposition to the plant, which it says is an unnecessary environmental risk, especially as Australian miner Lynas Corp is receiving a 12-year tax holiday.
The company has also been forced to respond to public concern over its refinery and will be sending senior management officials here to meet the public in the near future.
Japan’s ongoing nuclear plant crisis, coupled with a recent New York Times (NYT) report highlighting the radioactive waste produced in the rare earth refining process, has revived debate on the issue.
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider, Ti said that the MCA divisions would be joined by local NGOs to demand for “a review of the project or full disclosure of the decision to approve the project” due to the discomfort of the public with the presence of the plant in the area.
Pahang state executive councillor in charge of health, local government and environment Datuk Hoh Khai Mun said that MCA were seeking an explanation from the ministry as it was in charge of the approving authorities for the rare earth facility.
“Is it really true Lynas has got all the approvals? Is it really true the company can control the radioactive element of the operation? We’ve heard a lot of stories. We need the technical side from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board,” he said.
“They are the authorities, not us. We want to find out how much guarantee,” he added.
Chinese voters make up an average of about 40 per cent of the electorate in these three parliamentary areas and they have been the main drivers behind local protests against the plant to be built in the Gebeng industrial zone.
The first round of townhall meetings was organised by the Pahang State Development Corporation (PKPN) in July 2009 and included the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) and the Department of Environment (DOE) apart from Lynas.
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that only a limited number of local residents were consulted since the project was mooted in 2007.
Malaysia’s last rare earth plant was in the 1980s in Bukit Merah, Perak, which has been blamed for causing at least eight leukaemia cases, with seven resulting in death.
According to the same NYT report, the Japanese-owned plant operated by Mitsubishi Chemicals is still carrying out a massive RM300 million clean-up, nearly two decades after being shuttered.
Lynas has repeatedly stressed that its rare earths ore is obtained from its mine in Mount Weld, Australia and contains only trace amounts of the radioactive element thorium which, it said, is roughly 50 times less than those found in Bukit Merah.
Lynas is hoping to begin operations in September and eventually supply a third of the world’s demand for the mineral and compete with China, which currently controls 95 per cent of the world’s supply of rare earth.
The refined mineral is crucial to the manufacture of high-technology products such as smartphones, hybrid cars and bombs.
Lynas is expecting that the plant will bring in RM8 billion a year from 2013 based on current prices.
