100 protest Lynas plant at Parliament
Some 100 residents of areas surrounding the proposed site of a rare earth processing plant in Kuantan, Pahang, made the four-hour trip to Kuala Lumpur today to register their protest against the project.
Some 100 residents of areas surrounding the proposed site of a rare earth processing plant in Kuantan, Pahang, made the four-hour trip to Kuala Lumpur today to register their protest against the project.
The residents, who arrived in four buses, reached Parliament House before 9am and took up positions along the access road, holding up placards and wearing T-shirts that read 'Save Malaysia'.
Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who has been strongly opposed to the project, met with the protesters about 9.30am and negotiated with police to allow them to move closer to the Parliament entrance to avoid traffic.
The protesters want to present a memorandum to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak on their opposition to the project.
Ten representatives from the group are expected to present the memorandum, apart from meeting with Pakatan Rakyat MPs, about 11am.
The group, which calls themselves the Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia committee, however were unable to hand over the memorandum to the premier, nor did a representative take a copy from them on Najib’s behalf.
They later held a press conference at the Parliament lobby, accompanied by Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh and other Pakatan Rakyat MPs, to state their opposition to the project and promote a petition calling for a complete stop to the proposed plant’s construction.
The committee’s spokesperson, Vincent Jiam, said they have so far collected at least 20,000 signatures since they started the group on March 22, and intend to present the memorandum to all 222 MPs.
