People’s Green Coalition formed

In a sign of an emerging ecological consciousness, a people’s green coalition has been formed to strengthen the green political agenda in Malaysia.

Several organisations and individuals concerned about environmental issues came together on 16 April in Kuala Lumpur to form the ‘Green Malaysia: People’s Green Coalition’.

The coalition will focus on three major campaigns for now:

• The “Stop Lynas!” campaign in Pahang to prevent Lynas from producing and dumping radioactive waste.
• The “Bukit Merah” campaign in Perak to monitor the unresolved radioactive waste disposal and the continuing threat to the health of the local residents.
• Opposition to the proposal to construct nuclear power plants in Malaysia.

The coalition aims to serve as an information centre to inform member groups of the various activities concerning environmental issues in Malaysia and to co-ordinate such activities. It will also share human, organisational and information resources among the various groups and educate and engage the public, the media and the relevant authorities on environmental issues.

Coalition coordinators are inviting individuals, civil society groups and political parties that support the green agenda to join what they expect will be a broad-based coalition.

The groups that have joined the coalition so far are
Persatuan Penasihat Keselamatan and Kesihatan Pekerjaan Pulau Pinang, Save Malaysia! No Radioactive!, Pahang Doesn’t Need Hazardous Project! (Facebook), cleanmalaysia.wordpress.com, Sembang-sembang Forum, Coalition for Good Governance Penang, and Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement.

More groups including those in Kuantan and Kemaman are expected to join in.

Individual MPs and other representatives from PKR, DAP and PSM are  participating in or supporting the coalition’s work. Pas, for its part, is already working among the groups in Kuantan, said a coalition coordinator.

Individuals and groups interested in joining the coalition may contact its Penang coordinator Khim Pa at [email protected] or phone 012-477 7706.

Khim Pa provides some examples of a nascent green consciousness emerging across the country:

The Perak Development Corporation has announced yesterday that they have annulled their MOU with the Hong Kong based CVM Minerals Limited to extract rare earth in Perak after intense protests by Perak residents. http://merdekareview.com/news/n/18119.html

Residents in Lahad Datu Sabah have successfully stopped the construction of a coal power plant in February this year. http://www.discovertawau.com/news-and-events/breaking-official-statement-from-cm-department-no-coal-power-plant-in-sabah/

Mitsubishi Japan finally decided to stop operating the Asia Rare Earth plant in Bukit Merah after prolonged and bitter protests by the local residents. It has since been spending US$100million in cleaning up the radioactive waste left behind there. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/13/nation/6444922&s..

The people, when organised, will stop the BN government.