THE government will revamp the Lynas rare earth refinery evaluation committee, said Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh.

“The more I think about it, the more I believe that Lynas will use me as their ammunition. So for the sake of the country I want to step aside (from the committee),” Fuziah told The Malaysian Insight today.

Fuziah said she had not resigned from the committee but had asked Energy, Green Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin to revamp the committee.

“I think it is best that her ministry revamp the whole committee instead of me stepping down on my own because Lynas says I’m against it although I have accepted those who are for it in the committee.

“But since Lynas made it their business to use me as a reason to criticise the committee, then let’s revamp the whole committee.”

Fuziah, however, will continue to fight the cause and speak up for her constituents against the rare earth refinery.

“I will fight from the outside and I’ve asked Yeo to make it an open hearing so that I can comment from the outside. If it’s an open hearing I can speak up and make statements after the hearing.

“That’s my proposal and I think she has accepted the proposal and she will be announcing the new committee,” said Fuziah in Parliament.

Yeo has declined to confirm or deny the issue and said she would issue a statement soon.

Australian rare earth miner Lynas Corporation had called for a fair review of its operations after it was announced that Fuziah was appointed the committee chairman on October 2.

Chief executive officer and managing director Amanda Lacaze said the company was not getting a “fair go” and called for the review of its operation to be fair.  

She said Lynas had always prioritised the safety of its staff and that its members had always embraced a “zero harm” policy in its work ethics.  

“We feel some of the comments in the press… We are just not getting a fair go. It does not seem right.”

Lacaze has also denied that the plant produced nuclear waste.

Fuziah, who is a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, is a strident critic of the plant and had campaigned against it based on health fears expressed by her constituents.

Lynas has been operating a rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan since 2012.  

There have been claims that activities at the plant pose a health hazard as the plant allegedly produces toxic and radioactive waste.

Lacaze had told the Financial Times in an interview that the company was searching for alternative locations to set up shop if Putrajaya decides to shut down its Kuantan plant, which is the world’s largest processing plant of rare earth outside China. – October 15, 2018.