Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has promised to back the controversial Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) project in Gebeng should a new public inquiry prove it to be safe.
Anwar told Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald that if the Opposition managed to take over the Federal Government, he would fast-track the inquiry but until then, he would move quickly to shut down the plant in Kuantan.
Anwar said he also had “reason to believe” the concerns of many people about environmental consequences of the plant, built on a swampy area next to a tidal river about 3km from the South China Sea.
Lynas Corporation was reported as saying that its refinery had produced its first rare earth products, adding that work had begun at its plant in Gebeng. The plant had faced strong opposition from activists in a group called Save Malaysia Stop Lynas and other environmentalists.
According to a spokesman for the Sydney-based Lynas, the Perak plant had used waste from tin mining as its raw material, which contained high levels of thorium — the source of high levels of radiation.
The Lynas plant, he said, was different, adding that “by all international standards, the Lynas raw material was classified as safe, non-toxic and non-hazardous”.
On Anwar’s pledge for an inquiry, he said: “The plant has already been subjected to numerous independent reviews, including by the Interna-tional Atomic Energy Agency, the world’s pre-eminent authority on radiation safety.”
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