Rare-Earth Protesters in Malaysia Forge an Election Alliance
Save Malaysia Stop Lynas is focusing its campaign on the states of Johor and Negeri Sembilan, two strongholds of the ruling coalition that analysts say could fall in the coming elections.
Chuin-Wei Yap, WSJ
A group protesting Australian Lynas Corp.’s rare-earth refinery in Malaysia has found common cause with the political opposition ahead of the country’s general election.
“Save Malaysia Stop Lynas” is the name of the group that is tying its fortunes to a campaign to mobilize the anti-establishment vote on May 5 in two potential swing states. It is based in Kuantan, capital of the eastern Malaysian state of Pahang, and is run by volunteers.
For more than a year, Save Malaysia Stop Lynas has kept up an Internet-based campaign to disrupt Sydney-based Lynas’ $800 million rare-earth production plant in Pahang. Lynas’ refinery would help break China’s near monopoly over the global production of the 17 metallic elements crucial to the manufacturing of high-tech products, such as missile systems and iPhones.
Save Malaysia Stop Lynas objects to what it describes as potentially dangerous radioactive waste that comes from processing the commodities. The company and the Malaysian government maintain the project is safe.
But it is election season in Malaysia, and the ruling National Front is fighting to extend its decades-old rule in what is likely to be a fierce election. The opposition has vowed in its manifesto to review the Lynas project if it is voted into power, and possibly to shut it down, Save Malaysia Stop Lynas Chairman Tan Bun Teet said.
“If we want to stop Lynas, one way is to vote for change, so that we have a change of government,” Mr. Tan told The Wall Street Journal.
Lynas spokesman Alan Jury said the company had no comment on the group.
The environmental group has printed 20,000 stickers and 2,000 flags publicizing the Lynas issue for the election, and is distributing flyers by hand and on the Internet, Mr. Tan said.
Read more at: http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2013/04/18/rare-earth-protesters-in-malaysia-forge-an-election-alliance/
