PAKATAN Harapan ministers came under fire at an anti-Lynas protest in Kuantan today for allowing the Australian rare earth miner to continue operating in Malaysia.

“We must identify the ministers who supported the extension,” said Otai Reformis secretary Abdul Razak Ismail, on the sidelines of the event at the Taman Gelora public park today.

“Many of them had signed a petition to stop Lynas in 2012. But now that they have become ministers, they have reneged on their pledges,” said Razak.

He said the new government should not blame its predecessor for the Lynas controversy.

“They are the government of the day and they have the power to stop Lynas. Stop blaming Barisan Nasional for this.

He slammed Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamarudin and Primary Industries Minister Teresa Kok for supporting Lynas.

“If the waste is indeed safe, why not move it to her constituency in Ampang? Why look for a place in Pahang?”

On Friday Zuraida said her ministry is working with the Pahang government to find a suitable site for Lynas to build a permanent disposal facility for its low-level radioactive waste.

Razak also scoffed at Kok’s comment that six months was sufficient time for Lynas to build a PDF.

“Lynas has already had eight years to build a PDF. It hasn’t done it yet. So what guarantee is there it will build one in six months?”

On Thursday, the government announced that Lynas was granted a conditional licence extension of six months.

To continue operations here, it must move its cracking and leaching facilities overseas, identify a suitable site for a PDF and then build it, and move its low-level radioactive waste abroad. – August 18, 2019.