Fuziah Salleh
Encyclopedia
Fuziah Salleh born on 13th July 1959, is a Malaysian politician and is currently the Member of Parliament
for Kuantan
, Pahang
, Malaysia. Fuziah has been elected to Parliament in the Malaysian General Election held in March 2008, defeating the incumbent Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow from Malaysian Chinese Association
(MCA), one of the major component parties of the Barisan Nasional
(BN) ruling coalition. Presently, Fuziah is the elected National Vice President and Kuantan Division Chief of People's Justice Party (PKR) in the Pakatan Rakyat
(PR) opposition coalition.
Before entering politics, Fuziah was a corporate trainer and training consultant for multinationals, corporate institutions and NGOs in the area of human resource development and women’s empowerment. She is experienced in counselling various interest groups in both the United Kingdom
(UK) and Malaysia, ranging from youth, students, married couples, and women involved in domestic violence
. In the mid-90s, she was attached to a state government institution as a counsellor and was also responsible for setting up a voluntary counselling unit, which is named Unit Kaunseling Islah JIM (1993) where she later became the advisor and trainer for the volunteers there.
Born in the state of Johor
, Fuziah grew up in Pahang
, where she received her early and secondary education at Methodist Girls’ School in Kuantan
. She graduated in Counselling Psychology from University of Reading
, and later completed her Master of Business Administration
(MBA) from University of Wales
, both in the UK.
Fuziah is married to Dr. Russly bin Abd Rahman with six children and six grandchildren.
|+ Parliament of Malaysia
: P83 Kuantan
, Pahang
!|Year
!
!|Opposition
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Barisan Nasional
!|Votes
!|Pct
|-
|2004
|
| | (PKR)
| align="right" |12,177
| |36%
|
| |Fu Ah Kiow (MCA
)
| align="right" |21,324
| |63%
|-
|2008
|
| | (PKR
)
| align="right" |18,398
| |52%
|
| |Fu Ah Kiow (MCA
)
| align="right" |16,572
| |47%
after being elected as Member of Parliament
for Kuantan
in 2008. Fuziah first parliamentary speech to raise concern over the risks of having Lynas
Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) project in Gebeng
, Kuantan
, Malaysia was on 18th November 2008.
“Concerned Citizen of Kuantan” is a civil society group initiated by Fuziah and her PKR Kuantan team in 2008 to discuss the LAMP issues and to distribute leaflets in creating public awareness about the hazardous rare earth refinery. The awareness campaign organized between 2008 and 2010 was taxing with limited organizations and individuals willing to render assistance. Also, only the local Chinese
media
picked up the LAMP issues, while both the English
and Malay
media didn’t. In 2009, Fuziah’s team managed to get media coverage of the LAMP problems in Kuantan
via the Malaysian television channels, both the NTV7’s and the TV2’s Mandarin programs.
In early March 2011, public awareness has been heightened by the articles on Lynas
’ project published in the New York Times
, which was also under the initiative of Fuziah’s PKR Kuantan team. At the same time, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
has sent a timely wake-up call to the Malaysian people about the risks of radioactive exposure. Since then, the “Stop Rare Earth Refinery” campaign has started to gain momentum.
“Concerned Citizen of Kuantan” initiated by Fuziah and her PKR Kuantan team has then gradually evolved into a bigger civil society group. i.e. “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas”. “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas” was loosely formed with the first 10 committee including the chairperson were appointed by Fuziah’s PKR Kuantan assistants in March 2011. Fuziah’s passed her research team and all the necessarily contacts to “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas” committee with the agreement that all “Stop Rare Earth Refinery” NGOs, activists, professionals and experts to work together, and under the umbrella of Kuantan MP YB Fuziah Salleh. Then the “BADAR”, professional bodies, other stop rare earth refinery volunteers and NGOs also come into sight in stages.
Fuziah has led local residents and environmentalists in petition
collecting, PicBadging, leafleting, briefing and a civil protest movement against the LAMP in Gebeng
, Kuantan
that they say will be a source of radiation pollution. The alternate media have played a significant role in keeping more people informed about the hazardous LAMP. Particularly The Malaysian Insider
has been very supportive to Fuziah and the Stop Rare Earth Refinery campaign in Kuantan
.
On 2nd May 2011, Fuziah presented the Lynas
rare earth refinery case study
that has far-reaching consequences on Kuantan
communities’ civil
, political, economic, social
and cultural rights
, as well as the environment
at the ASEAN Civil Society
Conference
/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in Jakarta
, Indonesia
.
In May 2011, the LAMP issues have started to attract more attentions from both the local and the international media – especially both Al-Jazeera 101 East and Australian Network Newsline broadcasted their programs observing the present predicament of Kuantan
’s people over Lynas
. This followed by the local television channel
NTV7 Siasat Mandarin, which aired the updated LAMP issues on 9th June 2011 with Malay
subtitle
.
In July 2011, Fuziah has also stepped up the campaign in Europe
trying to stop Lynas
rare earth refinery plant from operating in Malaysia, after completed her dialogue on ASEAN Women Leaders with European partners.
The federal government of Malaysia has bowed to public pressure in April 2011 and brought in the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) to conduct a month-long review by a team of 9 international experts, which was concluded on 28th June 2011. The review led by the IAEA panel put forward 11 recommendations for Lynas
to meet before beginning operations which have been adopted by Putrajaya
.
Despite the potential hazards, the Malaysian government is eager for investment
by Lynas
, even offering a 12-year tax holiday. Fuziah, local residents, environmentalist
and the professional bodies such Malaysian Medical Association and Malaysian Bar Council have questioned the credibility of the IAEA review. They have called for the LAMP to be scrapped by pointing out the IAEA review panel didn’t include the medical experts and the IAEA report doesn’t assure LAMP is safe. Also, neither the long-term waste management
nor the possible contamination of surface water and atmosphere by radioactive waste material were addressed in the radiological impact assessment (RIA) report. These worries have been further spurred by the New York Times
article dated 29th June 2011, reporting the rare earth refinery plant near Kuantan
may have serious construction defects, with memos, e-mail messages and photos from Lynas
and its contractors provided to the journalist by the engineers who worked at the LAMP. However, Putrajaya
dismissed offhand this New York Times report without probing, and such flippant attitude of the Najib administration was slammed by Fuziah.
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
, Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
, Malaysia. Fuziah has been elected to Parliament in the Malaysian General Election held in March 2008, defeating the incumbent Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow from Malaysian Chinese Association
Malaysian Chinese Association
Malaysian Chinese Association is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that represents the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it is one of the three major component parties of the ruling coalition in Malaysia called the Barisan Nasional in Malay, or National Front in English.Along with the largest...
(MCA), one of the major component parties of the Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...
(BN) ruling coalition. Presently, Fuziah is the elected National Vice President and Kuantan Division Chief of People's Justice Party (PKR) in the Pakatan Rakyat
Pakatan Rakyat
Pakatan Rakyat or PR is an informal Malaysian political coalition. It currently controls four state governments while in opposition to the ruling Barisan Nasional at the federal level....
(PR) opposition coalition.
Before entering politics, Fuziah was a corporate trainer and training consultant for multinationals, corporate institutions and NGOs in the area of human resource development and women’s empowerment. She is experienced in counselling various interest groups in both the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(UK) and Malaysia, ranging from youth, students, married couples, and women involved in domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
. In the mid-90s, she was attached to a state government institution as a counsellor and was also responsible for setting up a voluntary counselling unit, which is named Unit Kaunseling Islah JIM (1993) where she later became the advisor and trainer for the volunteers there.
Born in the state of Johor
Johor
Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...
, Fuziah grew up in Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
, where she received her early and secondary education at Methodist Girls’ School in Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
. She graduated in Counselling Psychology from University of Reading
University of Reading
The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...
, and later completed her Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
The Master of Business Administration is a :master's degree in business administration, which attracts people from a wide range of academic disciplines. The MBA designation originated in the United States, emerging from the late 19th century as the country industrialized and companies sought out...
(MBA) from University of Wales
University of Wales
The University of Wales was a confederal university founded in 1893. It had accredited institutions throughout Wales, and formerly accredited courses in Britain and abroad, with over 100,000 students, but in October 2011, after a number of scandals, it withdrew all accreditation, and it was...
, both in the UK.
Fuziah is married to Dr. Russly bin Abd Rahman with six children and six grandchildren.
Election results
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"|+ Parliament of Malaysia
Dewan Rakyat
The Dewan Rakyat is the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. All bills must usually be passed by both the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara , before they are given Royal Assent by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong...
: P83 Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
, Pahang
Pahang
Pahang is the third largest state in Malaysia, after Sarawak and Sabah, occupying the huge Pahang River river basin. It is bordered to the north by Kelantan, to the west by Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, to the south by Johor and to the east by Terengganu and the South China Sea.Its state...
!|Year
!
!|Opposition
!|Votes
!|Pct
!
!|Barisan Nasional
!|Votes
!|Pct
|-
|2004
Malaysian general election, 2004
General elections were held in Malaysia on March 21, 2004. The incumbent National Front government of Prime Minister Dato' Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was re-elected with an increased majority.-Election results:...
|
| | (PKR)
| align="right" |12,177
| |36%
|
| |Fu Ah Kiow (MCA
Malaysian Chinese Association
Malaysian Chinese Association is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that represents the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it is one of the three major component parties of the ruling coalition in Malaysia called the Barisan Nasional in Malay, or National Front in English.Along with the largest...
)
| align="right" |21,324
| |63%
|-
|2008
Malaysian general election, 2008
The 12th Malaysian general election was held on March 8, 2008, in accordance with Malaysian laws for national elections, which states that a general election must be held no later than five years subsequent to the previous elections; the previous general election was held in 2004...
|
| | (PKR
PKR
- Codes :PKR is:* the IATA airport designator of Pokhara Airport, Pokhara, Nepal* the ICAO airline designator of Pakker Avio, Estonia* the ISO 4217 code for the Pakistani rupee...
)
| align="right" |18,398
| |52%
|
| |Fu Ah Kiow (MCA
Malaysian Chinese Association
Malaysian Chinese Association is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that represents the Malaysian Chinese ethnicity; it is one of the three major component parties of the ruling coalition in Malaysia called the Barisan Nasional in Malay, or National Front in English.Along with the largest...
)
| align="right" |16,572
| |47%
Fuziah's Parliamentary Responsibilities
- Committee Member of ASEAN Inter Parliament Assembly (AIPA) Malaysia
- Committee Member of Gender Caucus Malaysian Parliament Member of Malaysian Parliamentary Friendship Group (Asia Pacific Group)
- Member of ASEAN Inter Parliament Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC)
- Shadow Parliamentary Committee for Pakatan Rakyat (Prime Minister’s Department)
- Committee Member of Inter Parliament Union (IPU) Malaysia (March 2008-June 2010)
Fuziah Representing Malaysian Parliament
- Member of Delegation of the Malaysian Parliament for the AIPA meeting in Singapore on 13th-18th August 2008
- Member of Delegation of the Malaysian Parliament to the IPU Assembly in Geneva on 11th-16th October 2009
- - Debated in the Forum Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Renewable Energies, during the assembly
- Represented the Malaysian Parliament to the IPU Regional Seminar in Cambodia in April 2009
- Member of Delegation of the Malaysian Parliament for the AIPA meeting in Pattaya, Thailand on 2nd-8th August 2009
- Delegation from Malaysia to the 8th Workshop of the IPU Forum on Security Sector Governance in South East Asia (IPF-SSG), Jakarta, Indonesia
Fuziah's Party Positions and Responsibilities in PKR
- National Vice President (since November 2010 till now)
- Supreme Council Member
- Kuantan Division Chief (since 2002 till now)
- National Election Director (Feb 2010 till December 2010)
- National Training Director (April 2008 till January 2010)
- Deputy National Election Director (Jun 2007 till May 2009)
- National Women Chief (2000-2007)
- Started as Deputy National Women Chief when the party (KEADILAN) was formed in 1999
Fuziah's Community Leadership
- Earlier days of Fuziah's involvement in the community, she was actively involved in NGOs. In the UK, where she headed a youth organisation The Young Muslims UK, (1988-1992) whose members are British born Muslim youths from different nationalities in the UK
- On returning to Malaysia, she channelled her contributions in an NGO, Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) as Head of Women’s Wing (1993-1999). Her critical views on women issues were often sought by the media at that time
- Supreme Council Member of National Council of Women’s Organization (NCWO) in 1995-1997
- Member of Women Agenda for Change (WAC) and involved in the Formulation of Women’s Agenda For Change in 1999
- To initiate work on a shelter home for young girls, Raudhatus Sakinah, which until today has operated into its fourteenth year
- Founder member for Women’s Institute for Research Development and Advancement (WIRDA)
Stop Rare Earth Refinery Campaign In Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia
Fuziah Salleh has spearheaded the “Stop Rare Earth Refinery” campaign in KuantanKuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
after being elected as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
in 2008. Fuziah first parliamentary speech to raise concern over the risks of having Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
Advance Materials Plant (LAMP) project in Gebeng
Gebeng
Gebeng is a small town and main industrial area in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. The town is located near Kuantan Port. The phase 1 of the East Coast Expressway leads to Gebeng.Currently there are two main phases of industrial area developed since the 70's...
, Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
, Malaysia was on 18th November 2008.
“Concerned Citizen of Kuantan” is a civil society group initiated by Fuziah and her PKR Kuantan team in 2008 to discuss the LAMP issues and to distribute leaflets in creating public awareness about the hazardous rare earth refinery. The awareness campaign organized between 2008 and 2010 was taxing with limited organizations and individuals willing to render assistance. Also, only the local Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
media
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
picked up the LAMP issues, while both the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
and Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
media didn’t. In 2009, Fuziah’s team managed to get media coverage of the LAMP problems in Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
via the Malaysian television channels, both the NTV7’s and the TV2’s Mandarin programs.
In early March 2011, public awareness has been heightened by the articles on Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
’ project published in the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, which was also under the initiative of Fuziah’s PKR Kuantan team. At the same time, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster
The is a series of equipment failures, nuclear meltdowns, and releases of radioactive materials at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami on 11 March 2011. The plant comprises six separate boiling water reactors originally designed by General Electric ,...
has sent a timely wake-up call to the Malaysian people about the risks of radioactive exposure. Since then, the “Stop Rare Earth Refinery” campaign has started to gain momentum.
“Concerned Citizen of Kuantan” initiated by Fuziah and her PKR Kuantan team has then gradually evolved into a bigger civil society group. i.e. “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas”. “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas” was loosely formed with the first 10 committee including the chairperson were appointed by Fuziah’s PKR Kuantan assistants in March 2011. Fuziah’s passed her research team and all the necessarily contacts to “Save Malaysia! Stop Lynas” committee with the agreement that all “Stop Rare Earth Refinery” NGOs, activists, professionals and experts to work together, and under the umbrella of Kuantan MP YB Fuziah Salleh. Then the “BADAR”, professional bodies, other stop rare earth refinery volunteers and NGOs also come into sight in stages.
Fuziah has led local residents and environmentalists in petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
collecting, PicBadging, leafleting, briefing and a civil protest movement against the LAMP in Gebeng
Gebeng
Gebeng is a small town and main industrial area in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia. The town is located near Kuantan Port. The phase 1 of the East Coast Expressway leads to Gebeng.Currently there are two main phases of industrial area developed since the 70's...
, Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
that they say will be a source of radiation pollution. The alternate media have played a significant role in keeping more people informed about the hazardous LAMP. Particularly The Malaysian Insider
The Malaysian Insider
The Malaysian Insider is a bilingual news site popular in Malaysia. It has been consistently ranked as one of the top 100 most popular websites in the country with a strong following in Singapore. Alexa ranked The Insider as the 57th most popular website in Malaysia in June 2009...
has been very supportive to Fuziah and the Stop Rare Earth Refinery campaign in Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
.
On 2nd May 2011, Fuziah presented the Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
rare earth refinery case study
Case study
A case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit stressing developmental factors in relation to context. The case study is common in social sciences and life sciences. Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory. The latter type is used to explore causation in order to find...
that has far-reaching consequences on Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
communities’ civil
Civil
Civil may refer to:*Civic virtue, or civility*Civil action, or lawsuit*Civil affairs*Civil and political rights*Civil disobedience*Civil engineering*Civilian, someone not a member of armed forces*Civil law , multiple meanings...
, political, economic, social
Social
The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...
and cultural rights
Rights
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
, as well as the environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
at the ASEAN Civil Society
Civil society
Civil society is composed of the totality of many voluntary social relationships, civic and social organizations, and institutions that form the basis of a functioning society, as distinct from the force-backed structures of a state , the commercial institutions of the market, and private criminal...
Conference
Academic conference
An academic conference or symposium is a conference for researchers to present and discuss their work. Together with academic or scientific journals, conferences provide an important channel for exchange of information between researchers.-Overview:Conferences are usually composed of various...
/ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in Jakarta
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
, Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
In May 2011, the LAMP issues have started to attract more attentions from both the local and the international media – especially both Al-Jazeera 101 East and Australian Network Newsline broadcasted their programs observing the present predicament of Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
’s people over Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
. This followed by the local television channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
NTV7 Siasat Mandarin, which aired the updated LAMP issues on 9th June 2011 with Malay
Malay language
Malay is a major language of the Austronesian family. It is the official language of Malaysia , Indonesia , Brunei and Singapore...
subtitle
Subtitle (captioning)
Subtitles are textual versions of the dialog in films and television programs, usually displayed at the bottom of the screen. They can either be a form of written translation of a dialog in a foreign language, or a written rendering of the dialog in the same language, with or without added...
.
In July 2011, Fuziah has also stepped up the campaign in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
trying to stop Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
rare earth refinery plant from operating in Malaysia, after completed her dialogue on ASEAN Women Leaders with European partners.
The federal government of Malaysia has bowed to public pressure in April 2011 and brought in the International Atomic Energy Agency
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957...
(IAEA) to conduct a month-long review by a team of 9 international experts, which was concluded on 28th June 2011. The review led by the IAEA panel put forward 11 recommendations for Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
to meet before beginning operations which have been adopted by Putrajaya
Putrajaya
Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...
.
Despite the potential hazards, the Malaysian government is eager for investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
by Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
, even offering a 12-year tax holiday. Fuziah, local residents, environmentalist
Environmentalist
An environmentalist broadly supports the goals of the environmental movement, "a political and ethical movement that seeks to improve and protect the quality of the natural environment through changes to environmentally harmful human activities"...
and the professional bodies such Malaysian Medical Association and Malaysian Bar Council have questioned the credibility of the IAEA review. They have called for the LAMP to be scrapped by pointing out the IAEA review panel didn’t include the medical experts and the IAEA report doesn’t assure LAMP is safe. Also, neither the long-term waste management
Waste management
Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal,managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human activity, and the process is generally undertaken to reduce their effect on health, the environment or aesthetics...
nor the possible contamination of surface water and atmosphere by radioactive waste material were addressed in the radiological impact assessment (RIA) report. These worries have been further spurred by the New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
article dated 29th June 2011, reporting the rare earth refinery plant near Kuantan
Kuantan
Kuantan is the state capital of Pahang, the 3rd largest state in Malaysia. It is situated near the mouth of the Kuantan River and faces the South China Sea. If one measures the distance along the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it is located roughly halfway between Singapore and Kota Bharu...
may have serious construction defects, with memos, e-mail messages and photos from Lynas
Lynas
Lynas Corporation, Ltd. is an Australian rare earths mining company, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange as a S&P/ASX 200 company. It has two major operations: a mining and concentration plant at Mount Weld, Western Australia, and a refining facility now under construction at Kuantan,...
and its contractors provided to the journalist by the engineers who worked at the LAMP. However, Putrajaya
Putrajaya
Putrajaya is a planned city, located 25km south of Kuala Lumpur, that serves as the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. The seat of government was shifted in 1999 from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, due to the overcrowding and congestion in the Kuala Lumpur areas...
dismissed offhand this New York Times report without probing, and such flippant attitude of the Najib administration was slammed by Fuziah.