1m signatures to shut down Lynas

Himpunan Hijau will set up 10,000 signing stations across Malaysia on Aug 24. A rally is also planned in October.

KUALA LUMPUR: Environmental group group Himpunan Hijau will start a campaign next month to collect one million signatures against the Lynas rare earth plant in Gebeng, Pahang.

It plans to achieve the one million target within 100 days.

“The one million signatures collected will represent the people’s strong commitment to bring down Lynas,” Himpunan Hijau chief Wong Tack told a press conference today.

Wong said his group would take the “one million voices of the rakyat” to the Yang diPertuan Agong to plead for his intervention in protecting the wellbeing of Malaysians.

He said the signatures would also be submitted to Parliament, the Australian High Commission, the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and financial institutions that supported Lynas.

The signature collection will start on Aug 24 with the opening of 10,000 stations across the country. The locations of the signing stations will be announced on Aug 15.

Wong said he would “be under the trees” at Dataran Merdeka and would not budge until the one millionth signature was recorded.

He called for volunteers to help in the effort, saying they could start signing up on July 30 atwww.himpunan-hijau.com.

“We need 10,000 highly committed green leaders to come forward to be a part of this extraordinary, history-in-the-making effort,” he said.

“Beginning Aug 1, official petition forms can be dowloaded from himpunan-hijau.com or Facebook: Himpunan Hijau 2.0: Langkah Lestari,” he said.

Asked whether Himpunan Hijau would organise street protests if Lynas continued operating, Wong said: “Since we believe in people’s power, when the time is right to resolve the issue, then it’s time for the people to go to the streets, and October will be a good month for that.”

Political activist Hishamuddin Rais chimed in: “This signature campaign is only the beginning. A street protest will take place if that is the only way for Lynas to close down.”