Setting up a parliamentary select committee (PSC) to look into the Lynas issue is “unnecessary” and a “gimmick” to delay addressing the issue until after the general election, said the environmental coalition Himpunan Hijau today.

“The announcement by Dr Chua Soi Lek on the setting up of a PSC to look into the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (Lamp) issue is unnecessary, and we suspect it’s another gimmick to drag this issue until after elections.

“If the prime minister is truthful to his motto of 'Rakyat Didahulukan' (People First) then now is the time for him to stand up and make a decisive decision because the people have spoken loud and clear,” said Wong Tack, chairperson of the coalition’s steering committee.

NONE Wong ( centre ) said the MPs were clearly not taking the Lynas issue seriously, after the issues surrounding the plant had been repeatedly presented to the public.

“This issue has been dragged for a year. Everything is already crystal clear to the people. We know that Lynas has been allowed to make use of our country’s corrupt system and lax environmental laws to offset the environmental cost that they would have to bear in Australia.

“The entire nation knows that all laws and procedures have been violated from the very beginning to bring in this massively polluting project and that this entire project does not make economic and social sense,” said Wong in a statement.

“Yet, only now and after all the facts are presented so clearly on the plate, after the people have decided, our parliamentarians still call for an unnecessary committee to be set-up,” he said.

How loud before you hear us?

Instead, said Wong, the PM needed to come forward and make a clear statement on the Lynas plant.

NONE “How loud do you want us to scream and yell before you can hear?” he said.

Last month, an estimated 15,000 supporters showed up at Himpunan Hijau’s rally in Kuantan, Pahang, to protest the rare earth plant at nearby Gebeng.

Following this, however, an attempt to mount a legal challenge against the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) for awarding a temporary operating licence (TOL) to Lynas hit an obstacle last month when the government raised a preliminary objection .