Putting lives of Malaysians at risk

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has given the assurance that there are safeguards in place to ensure that there will not be radioactive leakages from the new Australian-owned rare earth refining plant in Kuantan and that the waste will be disposed of properly.

However, he fails to realise that radioactive waste poses an enormously difficult problem which to date, no country has solved. Even France, the country where at least 80% of its energy is nuclear energy, has problems with waste. This despite the fact that their engineering is a point of national pride.

Malaysia has not yet proven itself in the area of radioactive waste management. Its only experience was in the Asia Rare Earth case back in the 1980s and during then too the government failed to avert a radioactive disaster involving the rare earth plant in Bukit Merah, Ipoh, despite warnings of danger from the Bukit Merah New Village residents, lawyers and activists. There were numerous cases of leukaemia, miscarriages, babies born with deformities, and early deaths, and the effects are still felt to this day.

What is there to prevent a repeat of the radioactive waste problem? Mere assurances by the Prime Minister are not enough.

The fact that the new refinery will generate RM5 billion a year in exports starting late next year which is equal to nearly one per cent of the entire Malaysian economy may be a tempting prospect. But not when human lives and safety are at stake.

The rare earth processing plant requires a lot of water each day – about three Olympic-size swimming pools per day. This water along with the waste will be flushed out into the nearby Sungai Balok. About 5 km from the proposed plant site is a fishing village – Kampung Balok. The villagers, mainly Malays, supply fish for consumers in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, Penang, Johor Baru and Singapore.

We want the Department of Environment to release the EIA report on this project.

We want to know why Malaysia is hosting dirty industries belonging to other countries and why the government is allowing the country to be used by foreign companies in such a manner.

We want to know what safeguard measures are in place to ensure there will be no radioactive disaster.

HARIS IBRAHIM
PRESIDENT
MALAYSIAN CIVIL LIBERTIES MOVEMENT