Sunday, September 22, 2019

Lynas & Bukit Merah - Mahathir the link

Old extracts from Buletinonline:

The irony is Tun Dr Mahathir contradicted himself in the same page first referring to the lessons learnt by the medical profession in over exposing themselves to low-dose radiation by not evacuating to a safe distance whilst taking x-rays in the past.




Then he went on to say he is opposed to nuclear power plant because nuclear wastes keep on radiating harmful rays for a million years and that there is no really safe way to dispose of them.

Does Tun Dr M not realised that the Mt Weld ore contains both thorium and uranium which are radioactive? Thorium especially is a hazardous substance with a half- life of 14 billion years, far, far longer than uranium. It will continue to decay into ?????? (KK – can you fill in the details here please??)

Apart from the radioactivity aspect, the shear volumes of the Lynas waste streams – solid waste enough to fill 126 Olympic size swimming pools every year; contain other toxic hazardous substances such as sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrates and heavy metals such as lead.

SMSL is appalled by Tun Dr M’s complacent stance on the Lynas plant despite his own government’s poor track record in managing the Bukit Merah rare earth case.

How many lives need to be lost and how much of land and water need to be contaminated before we will ever learn to stop accepting highly polluting hazardous projects which Malaysia do not have a track record of managing safely?

Tun Dr M is well aware of the problem of nuclear waste to the point where he has made his opposing stance against nuclear power plants clear. How then could he developed such a blind spot on the Lynas project?

Is Tun Dr M complacency truly based on his limited understanding of nuclear science and physics or is it a convenient position for him as a father of two sons in one way or another linked to the Lynas project?





Firstly it is common knowledge that Tun Dr M’s second son Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir is the Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister the government body MITI which approved the construction of the Lynas plant.

Secondly, Tun Dr M’s eldest son Mokhzani is the Group CEO of Kencana Petroleum which has a nice stake in the Lynas rare earth refinery project. KencanaTorscoSdn. Bhd. Is a subsidiary of Mokhzani’s Kencaca Petroleum. It has won lucrative contracts from Lynas Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. for the design, fabrication, lining, supply, installation, and commissioning of carbon steel and stainless steel tanks worth MYR9.1 million.

source: http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=21989896


The Lynas contracts probably represented a windfall for Mokhzani since his return to the corporate world in 2007. Back in the 1998 Asian Financial Crisis, he was written off.

http://sophiesworld-sophiesworld.blogspot.com/2007/11/corporate-comeback-of-mokhzani-mahathir.html

It is no co-incident that Tun Dr M decided to blog on Lynas’ when its share value took its steepest tumble yesterday (21st September) in two years. Perhaps daddy decided it was time lend his weight to the deal to make sure Lynas is healthy enough in shareholders’ confidence to pay their bills.



What can concern residents – the majority of the mums and dad as well as youths do to keep Lynas inoperable so that they can have a peace of mind that their future will be clean and safe?

Given such entrenched vested self-interest at the elite level of politics, ordinary citizens should band together with like-minded people to claim their democratic right to reject a polluting hazardous project such as the Lynas rare earth refinery plant.

According to SMSL’s own research, one of the world’s leading banks, HSBC has recently sold millions of dollars worth of Lynas shares. SMSL has made two trips to Australia staging protest actions and engaging in public speaking tours in Lynas’ home turf of Sydney, Perth and Femantle respectively. HSBC is a signatory to the Equator Principles (http://www.hsbc.com/1/2/sustainability/sustainable-finance/equator-principles) which bound the banking giant to a set of social and environmental standards. It is hardly surprising that through the publicity generated in Malaysia and in Australia, HSBC’s own investigation found Lynas to be too much of a reputational risk to be linked to its corporate image.

The people of Kuantan have spoken loud and clear through the various peaceful public actions, the Stop Lynas campaign is a campaign run and supported by mums and dads and ordinary people who are simply worried about having a mammoth hazardous plant nearby. They want the plant to be stopped and they know they have the support of ordinary people to reach their goal ultimately


***Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas(SMSL) Press release on 15th September 2011

7 comments:

  1. Who was the Prime Minister who approved the Lynas project ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. is he the same PM who's now protecting the interests of Lynas, just as you're now protecting the PM's interests

      Delete
    2. The objective evidence, reviewed by the IAEA ( the report is publicly available for your perysal) , does not show that Lynas is a threat to public health and safety.

      For the Current administration to gratuitously boot out Lynas without support of solid scientific data showing Lynas is dangerous would seriouy damage Malaysia's international position.

      Delete
    3. "……without support of solid scientific data showing Lynas is dangerous would seriouy damage Malaysia's international position"

      !!!!

      Germany's so-called coal commission stipulates that by 2038, Germany will have abandoned coal entirely.

      That's in additional to the fact that Germany will to shut down all of its nuclear power plants by 2022.

      There r amble research data to support the safety & dangers of nuclear power station. Similarly there r enough scitific investigations to reduce the ill effects to the environment by the coal power thermal plants.

      READ carefully here - why the German govt proceeds to scheduling stoppages of these power plants?

      Ain't these political actions seriously damage Germany's international position?

      Bearing in mind that power generation IS a private enterprise in Germany, with multiple international partners/investors.

      The issues IS what the citizen wanted & have expressed SUCH in their votes to elect the governing administration!

      "seriouly damage Malaysia's international position"!!??

      What a bull!

      Bcoz M'sia is not Germany. So can't do what Germany can do??

      Or u r buying the shit, lot, stock & barrel, from those kangkong politikus with udang at their mind!

      Delete
  2. Toonsie is in a bind. He is confused. Poor man. Good thing is DAP is now embedded within his government. DAP has been consistent against Bukit Merah since the 70s and 80s, as they are now against Lynas 40 years later. Today their crusader is Wong Tack, backed by Minister Yeo Bee Yin. Also ably supported by PKR's Fuziah, whose constituency is affected. But alas they don't have the numbers in the cabinet to close Lynas down. But don't give up, don't resign. Be the opposition within the cabinet. If you resign you become the barking dog by the roadside. As long as you are consistent and don't betray your constituents you have nothing to be ashamed of. But to those who have changed their position on Lynas, especially those from Bersatu and PKR....shame on them.

    Toonsie won't stay forever. He can't. When his time is up the Lynas fight will continue without him.

    Meanwhile the BN state government of Pahang have to face their rakyat and within six months find a suitable permanent storage site for the radioactive waste. Good luck to them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Azmin Ali just tweeted (below), rather cryptic note.

    He was born in Singapore of course, and I hear they are more liberal towards LGBTQs down south.....ha ha ha.....

    QUOTE
    Thank you to H.E. Heng Swee Keat, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Singapore for taking time off to host me for a working lunch at the beautiful Singapore Botanic Garden. We had a fruitful, productive and promising discussion on the way going forward. #MEA
    UNQUOTE

    ReplyDelete
  4. mahathir son no more selling beer meh?

    ReplyDelete