The Perak state government has ordered all state bodies to seek its approval for all memorandums of understanding (MoU) after it was embarrassed last week over a rare earth agreement.
Senior state executive councillor Datuk Hamidah Osman told The Malaysian Insider today that the Zambry administration reprimanded the state development corporation (PKNP) for its failure to inform it of the MoU to pursue the exploration and mining of the controversial rare earths.
“We have circulated the memo that any MoU by state agencies and state-linked companies must first be referred to the state government. This standing order is effective today,” she said.
Hamidah, who is in charge of industry, investment, entrepreneur development, tourism and women affairs, said this would extend even to the level of local authorities.
She said that even though the deal would require licences and approvals from bodies such as the mineral office that is chaired by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir himself, “it shouldn’t have gone ahead at all as Perak is on a greening campaign.”
“We are not just unhappy, we are annoyed,” she said of the MoU with Hong Kong-based CVM Minerals Limited
News broke on Thursday that CVM had agreed with PKNP to explore and mine for rare earths in Bukit Merah, Ipoh, the site of Malaysia’s last rare earth plant that is still undergoing a massive RM300 million clean-up despite being shuttered 20 years ago.
The Asian Rare Earth (ARE) plant was shut down in 1992 after persistent public protest over radiation pollution from elements such as thorium, which is present in virtually all rare earth deposits.
Worries over radiation now threaten to derail Australian miner Lynas Corp’s refinery in Pahang which is facing similar opposition from local residents and environmentalists.
They have raised questions over radioactive waste being produced and stored at the refinery in the Gebeng industrial zone, fearing a repeat of the ARE plant, which has been linked to birth defects and at least eight cases of leukaemia in the past five years, seven of which were fatal.
The federal government bowed to public pressure last month and put the RM700 million rare earth refinery in Gebeng on ice pending a month-long review by international experts on the project that has raised fears of radiation pollution.
Both Zambry and Hamidah said on Thursday that they were not made aware of the CVM MoU despite it being announced in Hong Kong on April 18.
After demanding an explanation from PKNP, the state government cancelled the MoU the very next evening, shortly after the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition had staged a protest in Bukit Merah.
Hamidah said today that even though mining deals were normal business dealings in the state, civil servants should be aware of public interest and the executive order to refer back to the state government to avoid similar situations in the future.
“In sensitive issues, they should be more careful,” the Sungai Rapat assemblyman said.
