Anti-Lynas activist believes police report meant to stop Aug 18 rally

Anti-Lynas activist Tan Boon Teet believes a police report against him and Bentong MP Wong Tack by residents in Balok, Kuantan is an effort to stop a rally against the rare earths plant operator on Aug 18.

Tan also claimed that the pro-Lynas residents could also be trying to frighten others from joining the rally.

"This police report smells of sabotage of our rally. There must be something behind this report. Maybe they are trying to frighten the Balok residents, who are predominantly Malay, from joining the rally next Sunday," he told Malaysiakini.

Wong also voiced similar sentiments when contacted.

Yesterday, Balok village chief Mansor Mokhtar led a group to lodge a police report at the Beserah police station against the two anti-Lynas activists.

"The villagers here have no problem with the Lynas factory which has been confirmed to be safe. Many villagers work at the factory.

"Enough with politicising the issue when the Lynas factory has been confirmed to be safe by experts appointed under both the BN and Pakatan Harapan governments," residents' representative Shaharuddin Samsudin told Malaysiakini.

Tan said that anti-Lynas activists had never claimed to represent the people of Kuantan but were only voicing concerns for their wellbeing.

The rally next Sunday is to protest the "u-turn" by the government on a requirement for Lynas to ship out its radioactive waste, a product of its rare earths refining operations.

Tan said during the rally, protesters will be performing a stunt where a car with four people representing Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, and DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang, will make a u-turn.

Tan said everyone, including former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, would be welcome to the rally if they understood why it was being held.

The government is expected to announce its decision on Lynas' license renewal application by the middle of this month and has indicated that it will be approved.

This has courted sharp criticism from Wong and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Fuziah Salleh, who is the Kuantan MP.

Fuziah has taken aim at leaders in her own government, in particular, those who were formerly from BN, whom she claimed were continuously being deceived by Lynas.

While Lynas has provided some 600 jobs for the local community, there are concerns about the mounting waste it is producing, some of which are radioactive.

Lynas' plan to manage this waste will be part of the prerequisites for its license renewal.

It can either send the waste out of the country or build a permanent waste disposal facility.

The former option is the least likely as Australia where the rare earths ore originated, has indicated that it won't accept the waste. - Mkini