Monday 5 November 2018

About Lynas public hearing and self-proclaimed environmentalist

I asked a friend in Kuantan last Friday whether he knew about the Lynas public hearing this weekend and he said he didn't know.

That's a surprise to me because my friend should have known about such things due to his job.

He said he will check with Lynas people to conform it.

Guess not many knew about it after all, so here's the link again,

Public hearing of Lynas review on November 11


The venue however have been shifted from Universiti Malaysia Pahang in Gambang to Gambang Resort City.

Hopefully many people will turn up to hear what's really going on by listening to both sides of the story.

Those who wish to do so, please fill up the form at this link;
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeWmKkEHEwqM4N4db9H7HGf9J6Roe5wdPu3wrEK6B6_bnz0Vw/viewform
This will close at midnight Nov 9 (Friday).

Ya lah, most of the time we tend to listen to only one side and draw our own conclusions from it.

So, the public hearing, if carried out in a proper manner will let all sides to express their views based on facts and evidence instead of just sentiments.

Yes, facts and evidence. That's the most important thing.

The more people there, the better.

That would help prevent more one-sided bullshit.

The public need to know that one does not have to be a self-proclaimed environmentalist to be at the public hearing.

Really, everyone has the right to be there.

Furthermore, claiming oneself an environmentalist is not such a big deal.

Anyone can do that.

Sometimes, the status of a self-proclaimed environmentalist can be quite questionable, such as highlighted in this The Star article;

Wong Tack's green credentials questioned 


Thursday, 25 Apr 2013
BENTONG: DAP candidate Wong Tack, who has made a name for the anti-Lynas campaign, has come under attack over his environment credentials following revelations over the Internet that he owns large tracts of land which has been used for oil palm cultivation, a sector which is frowned upon by environment groups.
A popular portal, stopthelies.my, has also claimed that Wong is a Canadian permanent resident (PR).
Wong, a Pakatan Rakyat candidate, is challenging MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai for the Bentong parliamentary seat.
Uploading documents of Wong's company, Marvellous Resources Sdn Bhd, to prove his involvement in the palm oil business, the pro-Barisan Nasional blog hit out at him for misleading Malaysians by projecting himself as someone who fights for environment issues.
It claimed that the Environment Protection Agency once even “warned Wong's company for its unplanned and over-cultivation of oil palm trees”, adding that he should be rejected by the voters.
Wong admitted that he was involved in palm oil cultivation, saying he had never hid the fact. He added that his family had owned more than 1,000 acres of land for the past 20 years.
Defending his involvement, he claimed that “unlike many plantations, not a single drop of weedicide is used on the plantation. We use organic fertiliser and enzyme to reduce chemical fertiliser to a minimum level to carry out soil preservation and prevent river pollution.”
Wong hit out at the portal, describing the allegations as “blatant lies”, adding that if he had any wrongdoings, they would have surfaced much earlier.
On the Canadian PR allegation, he admitted that he had held the country's PR when he ran a consultancy firm, which specialised in environmental impact assessment in Canada, but it had been cancelled.
“I did not return there after I came back to Malaysia in 1996. In Canada, if you do not return there for five years and do not pay tax, the PR will be cancelled,” he said, adding that he had always held on to his Malaysian citizenship.
A palm oil plantation owner, meanwhile, asked if Wong's plantation was recognised by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), adding that it was not viable to run such a huge place by using the so-called “organic friendly fertiliser”.
An RSPO certification is a seal of approval that the palm oil is produced without undue harm to the environment or society.
The plantation owner said although Wong had claimed that he had not hidden his involvement, the latest news had come as a surprise to many other plantation owners.
China Press had exposed Wong's membership as a DAP member since 2011, despite him saying that he had no political links or allegiance with any political party.
In January, Wong had also told Malaysia Insider that his group Himpunan Hijau did not see the necessity in fielding candidates for the 13th general election.
For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

Well, guess not many people remember that article too.


Anyway, that friend of mine in Kuantan said the Lynas issue is no longer such a big thing that it was there six years ago.


Not many people in Kuantan really care about it anymore, he said.


The way I see it, the issue is more of a dead horse being flogged to life to be ridden by some politicians in order for them to remain relevant. 


That's why I seriously suspect that most of those who will turn up at the public hearing this weekend will be people like Wong Tack and their followers.


I just hope the Lynas people, who will be there will be allowed to speak and present their facts and evidence instead of being heckled and shouted down.


Members of the media, particularly those based in Kuantan should be there in full force to make sure that doesn't happen and report the hearing as it transpires.

That aside, I also wonder, with just days before the public hearing, whether members of the review committee have visited the Lynas plant and properly briefed on its operations.

In case they haven't, let me once again put this video made by journalists who have been inside the plant and visited the surrounding area,




Who knows, maybe the Lynas review committee members will see it.

20 comments:

  1. Lagi lagi Lynas. Tak ada modal lain ke Annie?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Expected la. You can't expect Annie to talk about 1MDB corruption or that Najib was lying about Saudi donation as these are taboo topics for her.

      She should post the Khabib video after Najib's U turn on the source of donation during Aljazera interview in which Khabib would hv said "bullshit"

      Delete
    2. Annie seorang journalist bukan environmentalist..

      Ada baiknya Annie memberi komen mengenai tulisan Awang Selamat yg meminta Najib utk memohon maaf kerana selama ini telah menipu ahli umno.

      Ini perkara yg sesuai utk dihurai oleh Annie kerana berkaitan dgn kerjaya Annie sbg journalist.

      Delete
    3. Annie cares sooooooooo much about our environment....

      ....that she fails to comment on the fact Musa Aman took 263 million in bribes for ILLEGAL LOGGING CONCESSIONS.

      But because Musa and Jibros are from Umno, everything is halal, kan?

      Poor Annie.

      At least in hypocrisy she is World No. 1.....

      Delete
  2. "The way I see it, the issue is more of a dead horse being flogged to life to be ridden by some politicians in order for them to remain relevant."

    Hmmmmmmmm, the only one flogging this dead horse is Annie : )

    How many srticles on this so far lah Annie?

    Is some well-connected crony making $$$$$$$$$$$ from Lynas?

    I'll wait for the scientific conclusions from the committee....enough for me.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Is some well-connected crony making $$$$$$$$$$$ from Lynas?"

      The fact that Lynas was approved even before the impact study was completed is very suspicious. A red flag for some under the table money.

      Delete
  3. This is the real BERITA GEMPAQ.......

    "Umno mouthpiece Utusan Malaysia today issued a rare rebuke of Najib Razak, urging the former leader to apologise to party members for repeatedly lying about the source of the millions of dollars he received in his bank account.

    “Najib must apologise to all Umno members because it is this lie that has actually wiped out the people’s confidence in the Barisan Nasional leadership, ultimately leading to the party’s defeat,” the paper wrote under the “Awang Selamat” pseudonym which represents its editorial voice.

    Najib, who is facing multiple charges related to money laundering and corruption, has maintained that some US$700 million he received in 2013 – money that has come to be known as the RM2.6 billion transaction found in his private bank account – was a donation by the Saudi royal family to finance Umno’s general election campaign in that year.

    “This has led to Malaysians, Umno members particularly, feeling cheated as all this while they accepted his explanation that the money was a donation from the Saudi government,” said Utusan, in a first hard-hitting commentary against Najib since his fall from grace in the May elections."

    So, the official Umgnok mouthpiece is cutting the ties with the Pinklips Pirate.

    After that, Puad Zakar came out and tried to defend Jibby against Utusan.

    And Nazri and KJ are whacking Pinklips in public.

    Wow.

    Obviously there is a civial war.

    So the pro-Umgnok bloggers must "position" themselves now.

    Zahid already has his own PR team, but maybe there are "vacancies" for the rest that needs some Very Neutral bloggers?

    Heh heh heh.


    ReplyDelete
  4. Annie,

    I do not know anybody on the review committee.

    But given that nobody, pro-Lynas or anti-Lynas, seem to be complaining too hard, it appears that the members of that review committee are quite acceptable to all.

    //Yes, facts and evidence. That's the most important thing//

    Publishing those facts for public scrutiny is also important.

    As for Wong Tack's credentials as an environmentalist, I guess it is a question of how he came to acquire that 1,000 acres.

    If that acreage was acquired before environmentalism became a buzz word, Wong Tack may have an excuse.

    //Not many people in Kuantan really care about it anymore,//

    Come on lah, I don't want to say nasty things about your friend with his connections into Lynas, but I think he should re-consider his views that Kuantan people no longer care about the Lynas issue.

    I find it really hard to believe that Fuziah Salleh, MP for Kuantan, whose opposition to Lynas was a central plank of her election platform, would have been elected if not for her anti-Lynas stance.

    I mean, Fuziah Salleh, seems to have not much else on her mind but getting rid of Lynas and I am pretty sure that is what she would have been droning on and on and on about during every single one of her GE14 ceramahs.

    I dunno, maybe Kuantan people didn't care about her anti-Lynas stance and elected her anyway, but it is difficult for me to believe, OK?

    //with just days before the public hearing, whether members of the review committee have visited the Lynas plant and properly briefed on its operations.//

    Well, that would depend on whether the members of that review committee are professional enough and competent enough to conduct the review, right?

    I am sure that in the past, many many review committees have comprised of totally unprofessional and incompetent members who have no idea what to do other then produce a favourable report for the government of the day.

    It will be interesting to see if Pakatan review committees suffer from the same problems :)

    Gladiator

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love to see UMNO or PAS Youth taking more envrionementals issua like plastic in Pulau Indah. Dont they have people who love the environement that Allah created?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous @ 5 November 2018 at 19:25,

    //Dont they have people who love the environement that Allah created? //

    Don't be silly :)

    Environmental issues don't make money, OK?

    So, you can forget UMNO Youth.

    Plastics were invented in the late 19th/early 20th century. PAS hasn't got past the 7th century yet.

    Anyway, as far as Parti Anak Syaitan is concerned, all problems can be solved by praying, so no need to do any more other than pray.

    Another point to consider is that, in the past, environmental issues have effectively only been a Pakatan thing.

    UMNO or PAS people who care about the environment need to associate with Pakatan people, which was a big No, No.

    Most of the time, it was Pakatan people criticising UMNO policies towards the environment, so UMNO/PAS people found it hard to participate.

    The ONLY UMNO person I know who has spoken up about the environment is Annie in her articles about the RAMSAR sites in Johor.

    http://lifeofaannie.blogspot.com/2013/11/pm-najib-please-save-ramsar-sites-in.html

    http://lifeofaannie.blogspot.com/2013/11/will-johor-government-protect-ramsar.html

    http://lifeofaannie.blogspot.com/2017/11/about-current-nonsense-going-on-in-johor.html

    She may have written more articles but those are three I found easily.

    Maybe there are other UMNO people who do care about the environment, but I don't think they are very vocal nor have they done very much for the environment.

    Gladiator

    ReplyDelete
  7. Annie,

    First and foremost, my apologies for this off-topic comment.

    Readers may recall that Zahid Hamidi said that the recent earthquake in Palu, Indonesia was Allah's punishment for Indonesia supporting the LGBT agenda.

    I made the comment that people like Zahid Hamidi and hadi Awang always tend to know with 100% certainty that punishments are from Allah AFTER the event.

    I also made the comment that I am much much better then them.

    I can predict when states like Terengganu, Kelantan and Pahang will be punished by the powers-that-be for voting Parti Anak Syaitan in GE14 BEFORE those states get punished :)

    Well, what do you know??!!!

    https://www.malaymail.com/s/1690355/floods-expected-in-hulu-terengganu-setiu-districts-tomorrow

    Yup, it looks like Terengganu is going to get its first lot of punishment from the powers-that-be for voting in PAS during GE14.

    Am I good or what? :)

    I told yer I know about punishments dari atas BEFORE they happen :)

    I am still trying to negotiate with the powers-that-be not to punish Kelantan and Pahang.

    I will keep folks here posted if I hear anything about Kelantan or Pahang, OK?

    I am doing everything I can to turn away any punishment :)

    Told yer I am a nice guy :)

    Gladiator

    P.S. Any news portal who wishes to pay me any compliments by interviewing me, pls contact me via telepathy.

    If I do not respond, you may safely assume that I am not interested in any interviews :)

    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Whatever the decision of the review committee, it is still difficult to accept why Australia had to make it unlawful for Lynas its own company not to set up the plant on Australian soil. Wouldn't they have wanted to create more employment for their own workers? And why go to all the trouble to recruit highly qualified and relevant people here to oversee its operations unless the business carries the connotation of risk that needs public placation?

    On the other matter of environmental healing...there can be five statutory measures:

    one, landfills should be showered with plastic-eating microbes; Annie knows.

    two, each tree chopped, one new sapling must be replanted.

    three, outside every landed terrace must be planted a leafy tree (not a stupid palm).

    four, noxious vans and lorries must be re-catalytized;

    five, incentize to go organic nation-wide in a program to dechemicalize lifestyles.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://mole.my/lynas-is-not-as-toxic-as-critics-make-it-out-to-be/

      excerpts;

      “Lynas actually has a licence to do this in Australia but it was Malaysia that invited us,” said Lacaze, “We were told that Malaysia is a great place to do business and that it’s a politically stable country with good economy.”

      At a briefing recently it was mentioned that easy access to water supply – which was difficult to procure due to Mount Weld being right smack in a desert in Western Australia – was among the reasons why Lynas accepted Malaysia’s invitation.

      “The processing of rare-earths requires plenty of water. The plant needs at least two Olympic-size swimming pools volume of water per day,” said Lynas’ vice president for people and culture department, Mimi Afzan Afza.

      Besides water supply, Mimi says Malaysia provides the ease of access for other raw materials, reagents such as acids and alkalis, good electricity and gas infrastructures and strategic location to its customers and port.

      Had Lynas set-up their factory in Australia, the company would have to shuttle everything, including manpower, to the continent.

      Delete
    2. Ok, syg. I surrender completely. You win. (;P)

      ...but why Malaysia? Why not Papua New Guinea? Or, Indonesia? With both run by pure Aussies. And how come Malaysia would know of a private-sector project by Lynas of Australia - unless suggested by Australia as a strategic semi-Aus project of its public interest?

      OMG, if the committee finds the project risky, the local guy(s) who went ahead to ok it might have committed treason, wouldn't they?

      Imagine (korean tv-drama style), one fine night a little girl asking, 'Ibu, why this glass of water glows in the dark?'

      Toxic radioactive wastes have long half-lives.

      Delete
    3. There's always the risk of your dick glowing in the dark soon due to radioactive effect of bullshitting too much.

      Delete
    4. Wow Annie...dick, F -word....ni semua perkataan kasar, kesat dan tak senonoh..Ini budaya baru UMNO ke?

      Delete
  9. //Annie: 6 November 2018 at 09:57

    There's always the risk of your dick glowing in the dark soon due to radioactive effect of bullshitting too much. //

    Radioactive dick?!

    Wow, so that's why Gladiator was wearing a lead helmet just now; also why Annie's ponytail sifu's Geiger-Muller counter went berserk.

    Now, Annie knows very well if a graphite rod is not inserted into the atomic chamber, there is no way fission can take place to achieve critical mass of heat to spark a nuclear reaction that will generate electric power.

    So radioactive dicks should be much prized.

    But this means: if just asking questions is bullshitting, what does making factual statements then mean?

    Bull shooting?

    ;P

    (if offended, blame on Profesyori Nasi Lemak and Kangkung; they ajar saya, syg)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anon 14:20
      Okay la.. perkataan "Dick" terpaksa semua terima skrg dgn penuh redha.. as kawasan keramat our PM in waiting kita terpaksa sebut perkataan ini selalu nanti.

      Mujuq dia tak pilih bertanding kat Batang berjuntai.. kan lagi senang Malaysians nak ingat kawasan dia.

      Professor Nasi Lemak

      Delete
  10. Anonymous @ 6 November 2018 at 14:2,

    //so that's why Gladiator was wearing a lead helmet just now;//

    OK, how the hell did I get dragged into this??

    Reminds me of the old days when UMNO/PAS would drag in DAP or Jews or Christians into whatever was happening!!

    Floods in Terengganu? That's becos of DAP, Jews and Christians conspiring against Malays and Muslims.

    Earthquake in Acheh? That's becos of DAP, Jews and Christians conspiring against Malays and Muslims.

    Plane crash and hundreds killed? Yup, ypu guessed it, DAP, Jews and Christians conspiring against Malays and Muslims.

    FFS, deal with Annie on your own without involving me, OK?

    Not my problem if you think Annie is some dumb bimbo bitch you can bully and then she hits you back :)

    //Radioactive dick?!//

    For the record, I am radioactive-proof. Born that way, you see.

    BUT whenever I like, I can get my dick to glow in the dark naturally, so much so that I have a contract with TNB to light up Kelantan and Terengganu on dark nights.

    Top secret contract becos I only charge a nominal rate of one teh tarik each time.

    Told yer I was a nice guy :)

    Gladiator

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. //Not my problem if you think Annie is some dumb bimbo bitch you can bully and then she hits you back :)//

      Now, who bullied her? Questions asked only, woh. And she certainly wasn't thought of in the way you had assumed.

      Delete