Himpunan Hijau Is Focused

I am, as ever, proud of Himpunan Hijau. They are true patriots of Malaysia, and they are aware of how dangerous Lynas Corp is to this nation. They sacrificed their time and energy, braved security, and voiced out their dissatisfaction.

My only regret, from watching the video covering their protest in KiniTV, is that they were too soft in their approach. But what can I say? They are Malaysian.

Believe me, the rest of the world aren't anywhere as subtle as this when they protest an issue.

The Italians burn cars. The Egyptians blow up buildings. The Indonesians burn flags. The Irish throw molotov cocktails. The English loot electronic equipment stores. The Americans throw rocks.

Malaysians just gingerly push past security.

Ah well.

I am disgusted by Australia. Utterly repulsed by the fact that Lynas Corp was one of the main sponsors of the Australia Day function.

And shame on the politicians -- especially those from Pakatan Rakyat who merely boycotted the function instead of protesting alongside the environmentalists.

But that's not what makes my blood boil. This article in The Guardian does.

In the battle that is gripping my community this coming Australia Day, my fifth generation farming family and I are siding with the underdogs against Big Coal. Or rather, they’re siding with us. The forest which bears our family name, our farm and our community are all under threat of devastation from open-cut coal mining.

Coal miner Whitehaven is rolling in the bulldozers to clear thousands of hectares of the Leard State Forest at Maules Creek in northwest NSW. The company has approval to build a new 13m tonne per year open cut coal mine, the largest new mine in NSW.

Out here at Maules Creek, we face a make-or-break fight to defend the core things we value: our forest, land, water and air, our community, and our ability to farm the land. Having exhausted all official avenues, we are rising up as a community this Australia Day weekend and putting ourselves on the line to blockade the mine site.

The Maules Creek coal mine will drop the water table we depend on for our livelihood by five metres. It will dump thousands of tonnes of coal dust on surrounding farms each year. It has divided our once close community, and some environmentalists say the mine will damage the last remaining bushland left on the Liverpool Plains, a biodiversity hotspot with an important koala habitat.

Apparently the writer has issues with "Big Coal". And so he and his kith and kin are going to blockade the mine. "Putting ourselves on the line," he says. So they are physically protesting this invasion (I'll give them that), it seems.

Now coal-mining is nothing compared to rare-earth mining. NOTHING.

This little freak is having a whinge about pollution, deforestation and biodiversity.

But thanks to Lynas Corp, we have all those things to worry about, and ALSO the threat of deformed children, high risk of cancer, and all sorts of other diseases.

What is coal compared to radioactive rare earth? Seriously.

Lynas is using Malaysia as a dumping ground, and because our avaricious politicians don't care about anything but lining their pockets, they have sold this great nation to the wolves.

Are our lives less meaningful than that of the Australians? Are we worthless? Are we inferior?

We are in serious threat of having really bad things happen to us. But why are we so apathetic?

Are we distracted by the cost of living, crime and the 'Allah' issue?