Lynas - A NO GO!!!

In a bid to curb the dominance of the world rare earth supply by China, who mines 95 - 97% of the global supply, Lynas, an aussie mining company, has been setting up the world largest rare earth refinery plant here in Kuantan, Malaysia. Interested with the details, read here and also here.

The issue is under the spotlight recently. There is so much of sentiments spilled over this. Many people took a "Stop Lynas" photo and posted them on fb, also the interactive animations and of course the media coverage, People even brought it to the street last weekend. Not why, simply because we are being risked to put on the line of FIRE triple combo waste, thorium (radioactive, toxic and acidic) as a by-product from the rare earth refinery plant.

There used to be a rare earth refinery plant in Bukit Merah, Perak. From the hindsight, there have been quite a number of  health related issues as a result from the plant operation and also the produced waste which were handled haphazardly/recklessly, There was outbreaks of leukemia and also birth defects. Interested with details, read here. In my opinion, the ultimate extent of damage caused is difficult to assess, as radioactive substance doesn't die out fast, it has to half its life over many cycles to be infinitely insignificant to be hazardous.

Check out this video, feeling heart-wrecked after watching.

Some big men in the country tried to give us some forms of rhetoric that the plant will be run safely that it will pose no health risk. I have no clue what his comments based upon, but what I do know though is that he must have got a handsome "undertables". We all pretty well aware of the whole corrupted system going on behind the scene.

So yea, this is something which we cannot/should not put up with. Thanks goodness, there have been many voices up against setting up the plant. If the authority insists that the plant to be carried on, I guess our best shot will be to punish them in the forthcoming general election.

"We should not bring to our shore what have been rejected by people"!

Namawee has come out with some thing too. Still the same him, vulgar.

 

Bukit Tabur Checked

Finally I check-in Bukit Tabur. I have always wanted to do so but somehow the plans didn't materialise until recently. It turned out to be a blardy awesome climb. I've read a bit about it, to which I immediately got interested by the sort of slopes the mountain has to offer. As a matter of fact, it exceeded my expectations. I really love its wavy ridgeline, ascending a slope on one side, descending on the other side of it, cross over to another up-slope and then repeat the same procedures of ascending, descending and crossing over. Some are drastic enough to bring about some adrenaline rush of you.

There were some other groups of people climbing with us too. But yea it wasn't that crowded than I had expected. We still had space to rest, camwhore and what not. The air was amazingly fresh. The bird view wasn't spectacular particularly as the mist was kind of thick. I was nearly deceived into thinking that I was hiking in my dream at first. It's a beautiful sunny day. All converged to an enjoyable climb.

We started climbing at 730, when the sun was already half way hanging up in the sky. Nope, we didn't get up from bed late. We just thought it'd b safer to walk without having our vision impaired in a region where we've barely known of. We made a round trip in 3.5 hours, didn't rush for anything. The climb was not  without risk. The rocky ridge can get very narrow at some stretches. Also, there are high degree of inclinations to go up against. So, pay close attention to every steps you take, I'm pretty sure the risk is virtually nil. We did suffer several minor cut though. 

         

A group of 4, easy enough to manage

A misty morning

Bukit Tabur, definitely an awesome spot for a little adventure around KL. I'm in love with hiking even more thereafter. =)