Posts tagged Rally

Himpunan Hijau 2.0

Date: 26 Feb 2012

Venue: Kuantan Padang MPK

Police have yet to decide whether to grant a permit to the Himpunan Hijau 2.0 rally planned here on Sunday. Kuantan OCPD ACP Mohd Jasmani Yusoff said police would meet organisers of the anti-Lynas rally Friday to discuss the matter. ”We have already sent them a letter telling them to meet with us on Wednesday. However, the meeting has been postponed to Friday. ”We will wait for them to come and see us to iron out details of their planned rally,” said ACP Mohd Jasmani said Thursday. It was reported that the organisers of the rally had claimed some 20,000 people would be present at 9.30am on Sunday to oppose the rare earth plant in Gebeng operated by Australia’s Lynas Corporation, which has been given a temporary operating licence (TOL).

Meanwhile, work has begun to fence off the MPK1 field where the rally is planned. Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) president Datuk Zulkifli Yaacob said this was to facilitate upgrading of the field for the Sukma games in July. ”It has nothing to do with the rally. The upgrading work was supposed to be carried out earlier but I was told the contractor could only start today (Thursday),” he said when contacted. Zulkifli added that the field would stay fenced up until work was completed. Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack condemned the action, saying it was being done to intimidate the public. ”How can it be a coincidence when our rally is just three days away? MPK is being unreasonable,” he said. Wong said the rally would go on either within the field or outside. ”I am giving MPK an ultimatum. Do not force us to take the rally to the streets.”

Give us the field or we take the street, say anti-Lynas group

The organisers of the anti-Lynas has vowed to go ahead with their Himpunan Hijau 2.0 mega rally on Sunday in Kuantan despite having their venue application rejected. Organising chairman Wong Tack revealed that the Kuantan Municipal Council had on Monday rejected their application to use the municipal field. He told a press conference at the PAS headquarters here, that the people will still gather despite the rejection and he would be filing an appeal against the local council’s decision.

“They have the choice to allow us to use the field or the streets,” he said. Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob had previously welcomed the gathering, saying that it was fully within the rights of Malaysians. The organisers claimed that the gathering would attract 20,000 people in their bid to oppose the rare earth plant operated by Australia’s Lynas Corporation in Gebeng, half an hour’s drive away from Kuantan.The plant had recently been given a temporarily operating licence, which critics claimed were approved without a detailed and transparent environmental impact assessment report.

Anti-Lynas groups condemn temporary licence

Anti-Lynas protest groups have strongly condemned the Atomic Energy Licensing Board’s (AELB) approval of a temporary operating licence (TOL) for the mining corporation’s rare earth refinery in Gebeng here. Stop Lynas Coalition chairman Andansura Rabu said he was shocked the licence was granted even though the permanent disposal facility (PDF) issue had yet to be solved. “One of AELB’s conditions was that the plans and location of the PDF must be disclosed within ten months of the TOL issuance. Why didn’t the Government and its agencies force Lynas to solve this issue before considering the approval?” he asked at a press conference here Thursday.AELB director-general Raja Datuk Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan said in a statement Wednesday that the licence could be suspended or cancelled while future applications would not be entertained if Lynas did not adhere to five conditions. The conditions include a US$50mil (RM152mil) deposit that Lynas must keep with the Government. Andansura added that AELB’s statement did not consider the R&D that would be performed by Lynas to recycle the waste.

“Pahang will become like a public toilet for Lynas. By imposing the deposit on them, it is as though Lynas has just been absolved of all responsibilities,” he said. Andansura said the coalition would proceed to file an injunction at the Kuala Lumpur High Court by Feb 13 to stop the plant from operating. Meanwhile, Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh said that AELB’s condition that the residue should be returned to the source if necessary was irrational. “Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore had already said that they will not accept the waste and it will belong to Malaysia. “The United Nations’ Basel Convention which declared that any radioactive material must be returned to its country of origin could not be enforced as well as it does not cover radioactive waste,” she said in a press statement.The Himpunan Hijau and Save Malaysia, Stop Lynas protest groups will hold press conferences later in the afternoon to respond to the TOL approval.

Himpunan Hijau 2.0 organisers have vowed to press on with their anti-Lynas gathering this Sunday despite having their venue application rejected. Organising chairman Wong Tack said the Kuantan local council had on Monday rejected their request to use the municipal field. During a press conference at the PAS headquarters here yesterday, Wong said he would appeal against the local council’s decision. “Himpunan Hijau is shocked by the official reply from the local council on Feb 20 that our application cannot be considered’. “I give an assurance that at 9.30am on Sunday, the rakyat of Kuantan will assemble, no matter what,” said Wong, adding that no other reasons were given for the rejection in the letter signed by the mayor. He said the letter also stated that the organisers should first obtain a “letter of support or permit” from the police.

“They have the choice to allow us to use the field or the streets,” Wong said, adding that the police had written to the organisers for a meeting yesterday. The organisers claimed some 20,000 people would be present to oppose the rare earth plant operated by Australia’s Lynas Corporation in Gebeng, which has been given a temporary operating licence. The first Himpunan Hijau gathering was held in October at Taman Gelora beach. Meanwhile in Kuantan, residents filed an application for a judicial review on the temporary licence.The suit, which was filed on Friday, named Atomic Energy Licensing Board, the director-general of Environmental Quality at the Department of Environment and Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd as respondents. Stop Lynas Coalition chairman Andansura Rabu said they were seeking leave to apply for an order of prohibition to stop AELB from issuing any temporary or permanent licence to Lynas until it had submitted a Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report to the Environ-mental Quality director-general. He added that they were also seeking a stay order on the licence pending the determination of the proceedings.