The Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia Andrew Goledzinowski use of the media lately to help Lynas wriggle out of their own commitment to Malaysian regulators to remove their radioactive wastes from Malaysia is highly unethical and deplorable.
I wish to point out to the High Commissioner that removing all wastes from Malaysia is a legally binding, black and white agreement undersigned by Lynas. Lynas would not have been allowed to operate from day one if they had not made this commitment.
However, the regulators and previous corrupt government, for reasons only they themselves know, have allowed Lynas to get away from complying with this agreement over the past six years. They have not only failed to comply with this condition but blatantly violated our country’slaws, international best practices and their own commitments:
- Our law says the storage area for radioactive waste must not be located in areas prone to natural disasters. About half a million tons of radioactive wastes (Water Leached Purification) are now piled in Lynas’ flood-prone backyard.
- Our law says the amount of scheduled wastes that can be stored on-site cannot exceed 20 metric tonnes. There are now MORE THAN ONE MILLION metric tonnes piled up in the open in Lynas’ backyard.
- Our law says the maximum 20 metric tonnes of scheduled wastes cannot be stored on-site for more than 180 DAYS. MORE THAN ONE MILLION metric tonnes are piled up in the open in Lynas’ backyard over the past SIX YEARS.
- Our law says all scheduled wastes must be kept in fully covered containers. MORE THAN ONE MILLION metric tonnes are piled up in the open in their backyard, completely exposed to severe weather.
- Our law says that all scheduled wastes must be properly quantified, contained and labeled with the date the wastes are produced.MORE THAN ONE MILLION metric tonnes are now dumped in a massive pile in Lynas’ backyard which clearly shows blatant disregard of our law.
Therefore, instead of being the mouthpiece for Lynas and continue to spin the issue on their behalf to mislead the Malaysian public, the High Commissioner should do what is expected of an honourable person of his stature. That is to ask Lynas to honour the agreement to remove their radioactive wastes out of Malaysia.
I wish to remind the High Commissioner that the lives of Malaysians are of equal value to Australians’. We love our land and children as much as you do yours. Do not forcefully dump onto our land things that Australia doesn’t want. Only those with coloniser behaviour will fail to understand this basic moral principle.
Malaysia has perpetually lost one kilometer square of our pristine forest in the Kledang Range to build the Mitsubishi joint-venture Asian Rare Earth’s radioactive waste TOMB. Our Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in reference to this painful episode in the history of this countryhad once said :
“Eventually, we agreed to bury this substance (radioactive wastes) in an area which was one square kilometre large. We had to bury it under thick cement to prevent the radiation from affecting people. Malaysia lost one square kilometre of land as the area was still not safe, which also led to losses in terms of areas meant for development. The radiation effects triggered fear among the community, we don’t want a repeat of this.” – New Straits Times, 18 September 2018.
ONE MISTAKE IS ENOUGH! Malaysians will not tolerate a repeat of such mistake. We will not sacrifice another square inch of our precious land FOREVER to build a second radioactive wastes TOMB to bury Lynas’ wastes.
Tun Dr. Mahathir and the MESTECC Minister have both clearly said that Lynas must remove all their radioactive wastes from Malaysia by 2nd SEPTEMBER 2019. Fail to do so, Lynas shall be Shut Down.
But the most important thing that I hope the High Commissioner is aware of is – the rakyat of Malaysia is very clear on this issue and we will fight til the end to STOP LYNAS from robbing away our children’s future.