Opening Speech by DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng during the joint DAPSY and Wanita National Congress

DAP demands that BN should stop the operation of Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) now or 4 Ministers should resign to take full responsibility for failing to fulfill their own promise that the rare earth waste will not remain but be exported out of Malaysia. BN’s insincerity and lack of commitment to make public health and safety the utmost priority follows a recent admission by Lynas’ Managing Director, Mashal Ahmad that no residues from the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) would be exported out from Malaysia.

The admission by Mashal contradicts the 7-paragraph joint ministerial statement on 22 February 2012 by 4 ministers whose portfolios are directly associated with Lynas’ application to set up and operate the plant namely International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamad; Science and Technology Minister Maximus Johnity Ongkili; Natural Resources and Environment Minister Douglas Unggah Embas; and Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai as follows:

"Prior to the issuance of the Temporary Operating License (TOL), Lynas shall submit a letter of undertaking that it will accept a return of any residue generated by its factory in Gebeng to its original source.”

Lynas’ admission that rare earth waste will remain and not exported out of Malaysia presents a rare opportunity for the Malaysian government to cancel the Kuantan Rare Earth Facility for breach of compliance without needing to pay compensation. Mashal Ahmad had confirmed that Lynas have no plans to export the rare earth wastes because Lamp needed to abide by international conventions which prohibit the export of toxic wastes to overseas countries. Earlier, the Australian government has repeated that they will not take back the radioactive waste.

Clearly Lynas’ Managing Director have shown that this is an empty BN promise and another example of “Janji Tak Ditepati”. Only by revoking Lynas’ temporary operating licence (TOL) or issue a stop-work order until the Permanent Disposal Facility (PDF) proposed by Lynas can save the credibility and the jobs of these four ministers.

A condition imposed by the AELB on Lynas is for the submission of details of the plans and location of a proposed permanent disposal facility(PDF) that will manage the residue, if any, generated by the factory. The submission must be made within 10 months from the date the TOL is issued. To-date no one knows where in Malaysia does Lynas plan to build their Permanent Disposal Facility?

Although Lynas is confident that by-products of the LAMP will be recycled and reused in commercial applications, and will not require long-term storage, a prominent chemist from China Chun-Hua Yan commented that it is an outdated method abandoned by China. Will there be more victims like the residents in Bukit Merah, Perak?

Clearly Lynas has shown that the guarantees of Liow Tiong Lai and 3 BN ministers are worthless as Lynas’s toxic residues can not be exported but will remain in Malaysia. As there is no radioactive waste or toxic residue management plan, BN should revoke Lynas’ TOL or issue stop work order to Lynas until Permanent Disposal Facility (PDF) proposed by Lynas is confirmed out of the country.

If BN refuses to defend the interests of the people’s health and the environment but prefers the profits of cronies, by cancelling the Lynas plant for breach of compliance, then PR will do so when we take over Putrajaya as the plant can now be cancelled for breach of compliance without needing to pay a single sen in compensation.

PREVENTING A CRISIS OF DETERIORATING EDUCATONAL STANDARDS

Everyone knows that educational standards in Malaysia have deteriorated alarmingly. In the 2009 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares international standards of reading, mathematics and science of 15-year olds, 44% of Malaysian students failed to meet the minimum standards for reading, 60% failed to the meet minimum standards for Mathematics and 43% failed to meet the minimum standards for Science. Overall, the competency of 15-year olds in Malaysia was measured to be 3 years behind the international average.

We as a nation must bridge the gaps and overcome any educational deficits together, so that not only do we avoid the pitfalls from any brain drain, but permit ourselves to scale new heights towards a high income economy.

In the US, Americans worry about a fiscal cliff that could cause economic recession with global implications, Malaysians as a nation face a talent cliff that can hamper economic growth and cripple our efforts to transform ourselves into a high-income, knowledge-based developed country. Unless we grow and build human talent, retrain and retain them as well as attract new talent, we face the risk of not just falling behind from new developed economies like Singapore and South Korea but also being overtaken by neighbours like Indonesia and Thailand.

Penang has adopted another 3 initiatives to try to overcome this talent cliff and to attract a brain gain. Apart from establishing the Penang Science Council that organises scientific events such as the Penang International Science Fair at PISA and building the RM25 million Tech-Dome Penang – another Malaysia’s first, the Penang state government has

• provided annual grants of RM12 million annually to primary and secondary schools to seed our young at the earliest edge;

• attracted a world-class university that is run by Smith College, the No. 1 women’s university in the USA;

• set up Penang Learning Centres to provide remedial teaching to academically weak students and assist disadvantaged students by adopting new and different learning methods.

We hope to have not only the best and brightest, but also to create a rising tide of supporting talents of high standards. Let us ensure our schools and universities produce the best and brightest so that our children are not 3 years behind the international average but is on par. Only when we have a culture of merit can we ensure a brighter future for our children.