Support Kuantan anti-Lynas rally

A huge rally is to be held in Kuantan, Pahang, from 10am on Feb 26 to press for the "termination" of the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant project in the nearby industrial area of Gebeng.

The Himpunan Hijau 2.0 will be a continuation of the first Himpunan Hijau on Oct 9 last year, where a coalition of environmental NGOs led a 2,000-strong anti-Lynas rally by a Kuantan beach.

This time, the one-and-half-hour rally will be at the Kuantan municipal field, where participants are expected to pray, sing songs, recite poems and read out a seven-point demand called "Aspirations of the People".

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/187610

Further reading:

1. Kuantan people will win, says anti-Lynas campaigner ,http://hornbillunleashed.wordpress.com/2011/10/13/24338/

(The campaign against the radioactivity risk of the Lynas rare earth refinery in Gebeng, near Kuantan, will eventually be successful, according to Prof Tan Ka Kheng, a distinguished environmental activist. Tan has a doctorate in a chemical engineering from the University of Cambridge. He did his research in physical chemistry after being released from the Internal Security Act. He had been the first of 106 prisoners of conscience imprisoned during the ‘Operation Lalang’ crackdown on NGOs and opposition politicians in 1987.

What was his offence against former premier Mahathir, leading to his detention without trial a quarter of a century ago? As vice-president of the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia (EPSM), Tan had led an effective resistance movement against the notorious radioactive Asian Rare Earth (ARE) refinery in Perak. Lynas now claims radioactive thorium concentrations in the rare earth ores it is planning to ship to Gebeng will be lower than they were in Bukit Merah, and will therefore be safe. Tan dismisses such claims: “There is no such thing as a safe level of radiation… they are playing around with people’s lives.”)

Prof Tak was actively involved in Asian Rare Earth (ARE) refinery issue in Perak, and he was imprisoned for the involvement under Operation Lalang. He understand Lynas issue in Kuantan much better than any of us...

2. Papan(甲板), Perak , dated Friday, July 16, 2010, http://teochiewkia.blogspot.com/2010/07/papan.html

(One of the first detainee was Tan KK , who was Vice President of the Environmental Protection Society of Malaysia. He had the unwelcome privilege of being the first ISA detainee to be arrested under ‘Operation Lalang’ in 1987.)