Tuesday, May 24, 2011

THEY TAKE US TO BE STUPID?

Karen received this from her friend Mrs Chow and she forwarded to me. It has to be shared. (AUTHOR UNKNOWN)


PIC BY FREDERICK LIM

Australia is 58 times bigger than Peninsular Malaysia. With a population of 21million and a government that answers to the people, Australia dare not take a bet that a Rare Earth Plant is worth its risk and investment. If Australia which is nearly 60 times bigger than Malaysia reject the setting up of a Rare Earth Plant, why would Malaysia 60 times smaller thinks it’s all right to go ahead?

The USA has closed most of its mines, and so has China. In Mongolia, vast tracts of lands thousands of square kilometres are rendered hazardous, with toxic runoffs destroying everything in their path, with high radioactivity, tainting precious water supplies and this chain reaction will continue for thousands of years.

And all this is just from one small factory which has also been closed down. It is surrounded by partly frozen red-colored 'tailing lakes' up to a square mile in size and the land is scarred with toxic runoffs from the refining process and pock-marked with craters and trenches. Larger Rare-Earth refineries sit around the banks of the world’s largest tailing lake, Baogang - seven square miles of evil-smelling toxic waste that shows the shocking extent of this industry's impact.

It is a scene that Chinese officials do not want the world to see. Several villages close to the lake have already been relocated because of pollution and security guards hired by the mining company.

And to think that Malaysia is building the world’s largest Rare Earth Plant is truly madness of the highest order.

Even massive Australia balks

Australia with its massive land size, could site it many thousands of miles in the centre of Australia, far away from populated areas and still be shielded should an accident happens but it will not even dream of building one in the country itself. But Peninsular Malaysia would be dead meat if the inevitable happens. And to think that it could never happen is fool hardy. The Chernoybl meltdown was not supposed to happen and neither was the Fukushima Nuclear Plant in Japan.

In the event of an accident the fallout could reach within an area of 80km radius, wiping out Kuantan, Pekan, Kemaman and most of the areas around Pahang and Terengganu. Long term the two states will be rendered useless and unliveable. It simply is illogical to site a Rare Earth Refinery so near to a large population and in such a small country.

Should there be an accident, the Peninsular will never be able to recover, and may even be sued by Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore And now that Australia with such a huge storage capacity would not allow the waste tailings to be reimported, shows Australia’s determination to wash its hands off the matter.

With Australia’s announcement that they will not accept our waste, what are we going to do? Hide it in Taman Negara, on Gunung Tahan, or drop in the sea? Or try to sell it to another unsuspecting third world country? All the profits we make will not be enough to pay for the disposal of the highly toxic waste.

Malaysia in its stride to become a global economic powerhouse, should seriously weigh the pros and cons of the project. And anyhow we put it, the cons do outweigh the pros. It would be downright silly to even think that we can outwit nature.

Childish reaction

The Pahang MB’s threat to pull the plug on Gebeng with the loss of 20 thousand jobs, should the Rare Earth Plant be called off, is really a childish reaction and a very weak attempt to resolve the problem. And to allow 20,000 people to lose their jobs just because the people rejected this insane project, when the Rare Earth Plant should not be there in the first place, is unbelievable.

It is also preposterous that Officials from the EIA saw if fit to announce that a comprehensive EIA study was unnecessary, EIA was set up for the sole purpose of protecting the environment of the nation, and it is downright insulting of EIA to ignore the people and to side the Federal Government.

If the BN government does not take steps to settle this issue immediately, it will only cause the people to lose faith in the government. Already the Bukit Merah incident is a black mark, and our government should take steps that such an incident should never be allowed to happen again.

How can our government be fooled by this Orang Putih Foreigners who continues to insult our intelligence? When will we ever learn not to play with fire? In our relentless pursuit for the extra dollar, we continue to mess around with nature without thinking of its disastrous consequences.

Rare Earth belongs in the ground and It should never be dug up and refined in the first place. Just like nuclear fusion, it will cause a chain reaction that may one day cause the end of the world. Chernobyl and the Fukushima Reactor in Japan is a testament to that.

180 countries in the world cannot be wrong to reject such a dangerous project. There is simply no mitigation possible should an accident happen. Gebeng is also situated very near to the South China Sea and a Giant Tsunami generated from a simple earthquake cannot be discounted from its list of failsafe emergency procedures.

One day we may be the laughing stock of the world by our decision to lose a country for the sake of a Rare Earth project. The risk is just too high. And it is simply not an option.









26 comments:

Anonymous said...

sack more people, it is easier said than done. Sack Najib first, then more will drop.

Then again another rare disaster may happen after that who knows ?

Anonymous said...

the most intelligent guys are the MB n PERKASA CHIEF. malaysians are all stupid as they voted in BN every time n always, SO WHO ARE STUPID N WHO ARE CLEVER.BN UMNO ARE CLEVEREST

Anonymous said...

How very true. But why is the government so insistent in siding with Lynas. In other countries, this project would have been thrown at its proposal stage, and no construction would have been allowed.

sri hartamas

Anonymous said...

Perkasa which is now famous for protesting anything under the sky against non-malays, why so quiet ah on this clear and present and REAL danger?!Seems like they are more interested in protesting the unseen unreal unproven issues like christian PM, islam under attack,royal institution under attack,malay under attack...the whole country is under siege by the minorities but the minorities control ZERO government,ZERO army-police,hardly enough MPs in parliment....Oi!Perkasa kenapa tak pergi lanyak orang putih tu?Not interested?

Anonymous said...

Aiyah, why worry, all of us can migrate to our neighboring countries like Indonesia, India, China when Malaysia end as barren waste land devoid of any living beings or things!

Anonymous said...

No wonder HDB apartments in Singapore now have a nuclear proof room in each unit. Singapore is prepared for everything.

Starmandala said...

Bolivia is setting a shining example for the whole world to emulate. Read this inspiring news report!

flyer168 said...

Bernard,

Just to share this...

Mamat Mat Salleh yang benci Lynas dan sayang Malaysia - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9a7Yaa0hRs

You be the judge.

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Perhaps these people insist and threaten that the project should go ahead because they have received the down-payment ... in their private bank account ... and to back out now will be good for them?

Anonymous said...

This is the problem when we have stupid leaders leading the nation. They think everyone else is just as stupid as them.
Now if the project cannot be undone, we must get the guarantee of the Australian government to accept the migration of all Malaysians to Australia if something happens to the plant in Gebeng. We will just vacate Malaysia and turn it into a dumping ground. It will be nice to live in Australia where the leaders are more sensible.
Pak Tua

Anonymous said...

Uncle Zorro,

It would be great if this article can be translated into malay, chinese and tamil and distributed to the residents in Gebeng, Kuantan, Pekan and the whole country. Let them read and understand the severe implications of the rare earth refinery. Malaysians have to start thinking hard about this before its too late. Eliminate the government wastages and corruption and the country will have adequate funds in the coffers without having to rely on such rare earth refining projects.

Oneofthesedays said...

Corruption is the root of this issue Z, not stupidity.

Anonymous said...

Uncle Zorro

"Stop Lynas National Dialogue" will be held in Kuantan soon. Details:

Date: June 5
Time: 10 am
Place: Grand Continental Hotel, Kuantan

Best regards,

Phua Kai Lit

sampalee said...

The truly stupid ones are those who allow politicians to decide for them.Now they depend on politicians to resolve the problem created by the politicians in the first place.

Anonymous said...

The environmental standards in Australia are simply too stringent that Lynas cannot meet if they build Lynas at home. Most people do not believe AIEA can come out with a recommendation to satisfy the need of the people at Gebeng. The BN government must realize that the protesters at Gebeng are from all racial groups who influence will be enormous in GE13.

Anonymous said...

Leave Australia out of your problem. Under Assie Law, it isan offee to give or receive bribes, favorsetc or to be involved in corruption within or outside Australia.

Your problem is yours! Good luck!

Lynas Worker said...

Dear All

Where do we go to make our voices heard in support to the Lynas project?

We are a group of people that will be employed in this plant and we also believe that this will be an important mechanism in driving our nations economy from job creation to various trickle down effects of the economy.

We believe that the government had closely studied the cost-benefit analysis and found this project sustainable. Such reports from independent bodies are well available to the public if your were not utterly blinded by political agenda. Some people who do not support this plant have nothing more than propaganda and mere rhetorics and hardly know the facts of our government's plans for lynas.

Me along with a few hundred other voting malaysians support this plant, and we outnumbered the protesters of an alien race who invaded the malay heartland of lynas.

Let Lynas proceed, the government has the blessings of those on the ground. Do not listen to aliens with political agenda.

-Lynas Malaysian Engineer-

Anonymous said...

Why Umno leaders like Muhyiddin and Zahid are so panicky about the DAP reaching out to get the support of more Malays if their allegation that the DAP is “a chauvinist party which had never cared about the wellbeing of the Malays” is true.

If Muhyiddin and Zahid are right about the DAP being a “chauvinist party which had never cared about the wellbeing of the Malays”, then they should be very relaxed and just dismissed’s DAP’s latest initiative to reach out to more Malays – as it is then condemned to failure!

It is precisely because Umno leaders know that their allegations against DAP are untrue and baseless – as irresponsible and baseless as Utusan Malaysia’s seditious and treasonous “Christian Malaysia” bogey – and their inner feeling that DAP can get the support of rational and right-thinking Malays, which explains why they are so panicky.

Anonymous said...

the root of the cause is 'money'...
*stonevanderstone cheers mate!

Anonymous said...

20,000 locals or 20,000 foreigners?

Anonymous said...

Nuclear fusion? You meant nuclear fission.
Without nuclear fusion it would also be the end of the world.
Most of the computers, cellphones, and electronics uses rare earth elements as well.
I think the trouble is whether the gov. will impose strict environmental regulations or the tidak apa attitude.

Anonymous said...

Dear Lynas Malaysian engineer

I suggest you show us your petition
in support of the Lynas project with the "few hundred" people who signed it first.

And what "aliens" are you referring to? Non-Malaysians or Martians?

Phua Kai Lit

Anonymous said...

Uncle Zorro,
Are we fighting a losing battle? Can the govt say no to Lynas now. Do they have the money to compensate? Phg is a bankrupt state!

Anonymous said...

And the risk increases when we have local engineers blinded by the glamour of working in such a plant to the extent they are throwing caution to the wind. If those Mat Sallehs do not think it is safe to site such plant in their own country which has a land mass many, many times bigger than Malaysia, one must ask why and not be led by the nose and be blinded by money in the pocket. Your children will pay the price if not you sooner.

to Australia u go said...

To those employees and prospective employees, may I suggest Lynas start the refining site in Australia from where the ores came from and get Lynas to employ as expats there. You all will get higher salaries plus a less crowded sceneries

Anonymous said...

aiyah..susah...susah bot apoh? mari kito ramai..ramai immigrate ke australia...dalam borang tanya afsal...tulis takut Lynas membakar...