Green anti-Lynas ‘waves’ occupy beach

Hundreds of protestors relaxed at the Balok beach in Kuantan today and will continue their rally against the Lynas rare earth plant tomorrow at its gates

PETALING JAYA: Some 300 people anti-Lynas protestors this afternoon begun to ‘occupy’ the Balok beach, in Kuantan, which is some 8km away from the controversial rare earth plant in Gebeng.

The majority of the protestors, in green, are from outstation and are gathered at Pelangi Balok Beach Resort at Pantai Balok.

Many were “relaxing and enjoying themselves” awaiting for the night activities of their 24-hour encampment “Occupy Balok-Gebeng” rally, according to Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack.

People there are supposed to camp till 10am the next day,and the programme is  filled with various programmes such as exhibitions, mini concerts and kite flying activities.

The ceramah at 8.30pm tonight  would feature poet A. Samad Said, activist Hishamuddin Rais dan Wong himself.

“We are showing them the people’s power. Balok is the village which will be directly impacted, if anything at all, it will directly hit by Lynas.
That’s why we start from here, let the people come here and visit this place before something happens to it. We cannot imagine, one of the world biggest rare earth plant can happen at such a beautiful area,” Wong told FMT.

Wong alleged that Lynas plans to dump waste water into the Balok river, which will flow to the sea near where the people are gathered.

Malaysiakini reported that crowds chanted  “Stop Lynas; Lynas Get out” and had planted banners in the sands. The banners read:”"13th GE, we bury BN, bury Lynas”, “Lynas get out now”, “No Lynas on Malaysian soil”.

Wong was also reported to have challenged the government to issue a permanent operating license to Lynas. “If they are so confident that Lamp is safe, why not issue a permanent operating license? I challenge them to issue one,” Wong reportedly said.

This latest rally, the third from the group, follows the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report on Lynas which was accepted by Dewan Rakyat earlier this week.

The report gave Lynas the green light, saying that it did not pose an immediate danger to the public and the environment.

Himpunan Hijau and its anti-Lynas counterpart Save Malaysia Stop Lynas have vowed that they would not relent in their campaign against the project.