BACKED BY BIG, BIG MONEY & POWERFUL UNSEEN HANDS – PRO-LYNAS WORKERS, CONTRACTORS & OTHERS STAGE RALLY – DESPITE ALLEGEDLY NOT GETTING THE GREEN LIGHT FROM KUANTAN MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

Hundreds of pro-Lynas individuals gathered in Kuantan, Pahang this afternoon, amidst the government’s conditional renewal of the company’s licence.

The crowd, comprising workers and contractors, started converging at the football field near Dewan Orang Ramai Balok at about 2pm – half an hour earlier than initially planned – for the ‘Lynas Malaysia Workers and Community Appeal Rally’.

The participants carried banners voicing support for Lynas, and some even urged intervention from the Pahang palace to help them.

One of the banners said that Lynas had been in operation for 12 years and has had no recorded negative effects on people, animals, or the environment, and yet it is being continuedly “slandered”.

Yesterday, Kuantan police chief Wan Mohd Zahari Wan Busu said police would allow the rally to take place if the organiser obtained permission from the landowner or the premises manager to use the venue.

It was earlier reported that the Kuantan Municipal Council, whose jurisdiction the field comes under, rejected the organiser’s request to use the venue.

A notice detailing the rally claimed that the government’s decision to stop the cracking and leaching (C&L) facility of the Lynas plant has put the livelihoods of thousands of people at risk.

“Without a doubt, it (the government’s decision) will create a negative ripple effect most felt in the community of people living and working around the plant.

“Ahead of the appeal decision, both scientific facts and social impact need to be understood by the public and decision-makers alike. This is why the people directly impacted by this decision are appealing to the prime minister to save their jobs,” the circulated notice stated.

Last week, the government agreed to renew Lynas’ licence on several conditions, one of which was to relocate the cracking and leaching facility – which produces radioactive Water Leach Purification (WLP) residue – out of Malaysia before July 2023.

The company decried the conditions and warned that hundreds of jobs would be lost as a direct result if it is forced to close its cracking and leaching facility.

Following this, Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Chang Lih Kang indicated that Lynas would be able to keep its cracking and leaching plant in Malaysia on the condition that no radioactive waste materials are kept in the country.

MKINI

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