M’sian Bar: Form review panels earlier, not later

By Yow Hong Chieh

April 22, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — The Malaysian Bar has urged the government to form independent, expert panels sooner rather than later in future when pursuing controversial projects like the Lynas rare earths refinery in Kuantan.

“The government must establish an independent panel far in advance, give it adequate time to conduct a detailed study and consult the people who will be affected, and then consider the panel’s report carefully before making a decision on whether to approve such projects,” Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said in a statement today.

While he welcomed news of the panel on the Lynas plant, Lim cautioned that its members must be given enough time to carry out their duties and also obtain feedback from Pahang residents, who fear the plant’s environmental impact.

“The panel should not rush to complete its responsibility within one month, if more time is required in order for it to carry out its duties scrupulously,” he said, adding that only “renowned and respected” experts be appointed.

Lim also said the Malaysian Bar fully supported the Pahang Bar’s decision to set up a special subcommittee to conduct an in-depth study into the Lynas plant by May, including its environmental impact and waste disposal or storage.

The subcommittee, approved at an extraordinary general meeting yesterday, will also provide legal representation if a class action suit is filed against Lynas Corp and “any other necessary party”.

The government bowed to public pressure today and announced that it would set up a panel of five to seven independent experts to review the RM700 million rare earths plant in Kuantan that has raised fears of radiation pollution.

Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the panel will be appointed “in a few days” to review the plant being constructed by Australian miner Lynas Corp in the Gebeng industrial zone.

He stressed that until the federal and Pahang governments deliberated on the panel’s findings, Lynas would not be issued a pre-operating licence or allowed to import raw materials from Australia.

Environmentalists and Kuantan residents fear that radioactive waste produced and stored at the plant will lead to higher incidences of deadly cancer similar to what happened at the previous rare earths refinery in Bukit Merah, Perak.

Eight cases of leukaemia, seven of which resulted in death, have been linked to the Bukit Merah plant.

The Bukit Merah refinery is still undergoing a clean-up process that has cost over RM300 million so far since it was shuttered in 1992.

Lynas had expected to receive a preliminary operating licence from the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) before September, which would be renewed as a full licence within three years if the plant complies with safety standards.

The company is anticipating a windfall of RM8 billion a year from 2013 onwards from rare earths metals that are crucial to the manufacture of high-technology products such as smartphones, hybrid cars and bombs.