The Malaysian Town Still Haunted By Radioactive Pollution 30 Years After Rare Earths Refinery Shut
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- Editor's Note: At 00:46, the location is Bukit Merah, Ipoh.
A rare earths processing plant run by Mitsubishi Chemicals in Bukit Merah, Malaysia was blamed for birth defects and leukaemia cases in the local community. The plant, which was shut down in 1994, had no long-term waste facility which resulted in radioactive waste leakage.
00:00 Why the fight over rare earths?
00:44 Bukit Merah: What happened in brief
01:56 Mitsubishi Chemicals’ former rare earth processing plant site
03:18 How radioactive waste was handled
04:07 Effects of radioactive waste pollution
06:51 A permanent radioactive waste dumpsite
Mitsubishi Chemicals spent US$100 million on the clean-up and donated to the local community in an out-of-court settlement. The radioactive contamination took years to clean up.
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Watch Power Scramble, a three-parter about the power struggle over critical metals that are essential for high-tech applications and carbon-free future:
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Part 2: What Happens When China Controls The World’s Most Coveted Metals? • From Malaysia To Myanm...
Part 3: Can Vietnam Break China’s Near Monopoly On This Critical Metal? • Vietnam's Challenge To...
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Correction: At 0:46, Bukit Merah is not in Kuantan (Pahang state), it is near Ipoh (Perak state). Kuantan is where the current controversial rare earth facility is, not the 1982 one.
How near Ipoh? Can you give a location link?
maps.app.goo.gl/puuWbWacozaTU3eY9?g_st=ic
@@heythave
About 7km from Ipoh town.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bukit_Merah_New_Village_Main_Entrance_(Ipoh,_Perak,_Malaysia).jpg
@@heythave maps.app.goo.gl/xWTGnrBySTZaiFtaA
@@heythave maps.app.goo.gl/NA4yqrRjm47sLPicA
Wow as a Malaysian, i've never heard of this incident. The one that I know was the Lynas plant in Kuantan which caused enormous controversy. I didn't know there was a radioactive disaster at Bukit Merah in 1982. I was born few years later and growing up I was clueless about this incident. I've never fully understood why there was vehement opposition to Lynas but now I know. Glad CNA made this clip. I hope in future the government will make cautious decicion in allowing any industrial plants to be built. Safety of our people should not be compromised in the name of development.
Cos the young generation do not know this piece of history. The media was silenced for so long becos powerful people. A certain Dr Mwas the mastermind behind all this. Greed come to his mind. Initially they wanted to setup the operations in Parit but was met with heavy resistance from the locals. Then they changed to another spot in the vicinity of Pusing
You are too young la
that's the main reason why people protest Lynas in the first place, because of this incident.
Of course, they don't want you to know. The government and the Japanese corporation collectively screwed over the residents there, and the government actively cover-up and deny that the radioactive site were unsafe. In the end, amidst the legal battles and media pressures, the residents only get a donation for their community school, not even an apology was given.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Bukit_Merah_radioactive_pollution
Can you give a location for Bukit Merah? Google maps only says it’s in Singapore.
Never knew this 1982 Bukit Merah rare earth case was that bad. Thanks for this informative video.
Extremely bad. I know many melayus wanna pin blame on anwar........hahahahaha. in 1982 hor, musa was the deputy. Then followed by ghabar baba. Nice try from ahmad susuki
Mahatir destroyed Malaysia.
Tfym Mahathir created Malaysia as it is rn
Crony capitalism is extremely high in Malaysia because of Mahathir's corruption, this happened as a result of mahathir being a dishonest pile of trash@@BN__TBN
My father grew up here. And yes, I'm grateful that he moved to somewhere else with my mother before I was born(1992).
u pedatang cine
@@user-tg9ri8lu4v Lu siape?
@@user-tg9ri8lu4voi racist guna acc sebenar la
Very good documentary! I believed many Malaysian don’t know this had been happening behind their backyards…questions is “who” allowed this company to operate this operations in Kuantan? Who benefits from it? Who had been covering this for them? I’m very angry that those money licking people’s are doing so much harm to the locals!
This is the kind of materials which should have been included in our children textbook.
as Malaysian im thank you for providing this information to the upfront
Today, JAPAN wants us to take their word the radioactive waste water from Fukushima will Not harm seafood and the environment after releasing into the Pacific Ocean.
Many may have confused with the name Bukit Merah which can be associated with Bukit Merah in Pahang and even another Bukit Merah in Perak that situated north of Perak which is around 90km from the Bukit Merah where this incident happened which also happen to be in Perak (that is confusing). This Bukit Merah is at Menglembu. 'The tomb" is not that far either. It is about 10km from there.
And still our YB Fuziah Salleh from Kuantan said it is safe after all these years when she campaign against Lynas in her early political years. Things change when she become deputy minister.
It says alot that there isn't a single official from the government who has anything to say with regards to this? It makes sense to process rare earths and get money from doing so, but why wouldnt local govt have better oversight to make sure there are safety compliances?
Wow! Didn’t know CNA got Jason Derulo to report on this :D
Great to hear the stories that were not properly told all these years ago.
excellent reporting, thank you for the coverage
There are 2 rare earth locations in malaysia. Perak and pahang. The pahang one is under lynas which is scaling down operation. Processing of REE should be done with proper facilities.
th-cam.com/video/HZaCzNIf7b0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=UpnKxNBdRYNeVa0A
Someone made money from this tragedy. Only the locals suffered. My question is how safe is the radioactive waste stored?
Another question, how frequent visits and maintained the radioactive waste dumpsite?
Nuclear power plant workers in the West show proper disposing even the rod is pencil-size, covered with the size of water bottle copper.
The rear-earth residue dump pit design concrete bed is about 1 meter thick and is estimated to protect for the next 200 years.
The responsibility also lies with the local partners, however it was not mentioned in the vid.
Asia Rare Earth Sdn Bhd
Biggest shareholders for the company being the Mitsubishi Chemical Industries Ltd and Beh Minerals (both with 35% share) together with Tabung Haji and other Bumiputera businessmen owning lesser shares.
This area is located close to Ipoh, Perak. Bukit Merah, Kinta District not to be confused with the one in Kerian District, Perak.
Proud to see ppl that are so brave and loud at preserving our rights to live a comfortable life!
We shouldn't hide the ugly and the evil doings of the past. People should learn from the past and not let history repeat itself.
Mahatir’s doing just to get rich. Now you know why Lynas’s license was renewed
Scary part of the Radioactive Dumpsite is the multitude of fish farms surrounding it ...... yikes
Education on proper waste management by tech giants should be given by the Ministry to prevent the same mistakes happening again. Alas, due to their negligence the daily life of locals will be severely affected.
Good luck with that.
The word "proper" is not in the Malaysian dictionary. Like how illegal recycle processing centres just dump containers full of unrecyclable garbage everywhere after Canadians lied to them.
Proud to see that Malaysia current government allow the current rare earth site to operate even after much opposition and protest when they were the opposition of the former government . Nice job Malaysia! Keep it up! Proud to be a Malaysian!
p.s: Let's face it, it doesn't matter who becomes the government, they're all the same
Well like it or not, you needed them. You need these rare earth elements that you are currently using to watch this video on your smartphone. You need it for so many other things you have to use in your daily life. Rare earth mining can be done safely or dangerously. Just like Petroleum mining can pollute drinking waters in certain geography if it is not done carefully. Should we never extract any Petroleum from the ground then? Back then Malaysia had very little experience with rare earth mining processes, now we have known better. As long as we follow strict safety regulation why should it be an issue? Are we going to politicize everything to the point that nothing gets done in Malaysia?
hahaha.thats why you should never ever trust a politicians..
"Hati membeku mengingatkan kata janji manismu"
aiyooo, REE can be benefited but must have right SOP lah
@@MrDin23 you think our politicians can have the right SOP? 😁
@@ahmadsafwanahmadlatfi8006 i said the REEs must have SOP
they put layers and layers of concrete...
in my expirience there is 2 types of concrete... cracked concrete and the other one concrete that is yet to crack .. but be rest assured... concrete will crack... the question then, whats next
Aku pernah melawat tempat nie dalam lewat 90an..untuk mengambil tahu dan ilmu..bagi aku ini lah permulaan kerosakkan alam sekitar berpunca dari rare earth yang pada masa tu siapa pun tak tahu, malas nak cakap pasal politik tapi PM pada masa tu pekak badak dan tak sensitif dengan rakyat sibuk dengan pelabur konon.
These places are extremely toxic
It's not the fault of the places, tho. The place itself didn't ask for it to become a toxic dumping ground for radioactive waste.
@@msi7188duhh
The site remind me that one huge concrete radioactive waste dumpsite nearby Hawaiian Islands.
1:51 😂Take a Quote from these senior citizen :
" Well, don't be fooled "
Honestly I've never heard of this incident it was never mentioned anywhere
Is that radioactive water pond going to seep into the ground water?
This good documentary
We dont need expensive documentary like in astro channel
Same doubts I have about the recent events of the decision by the Japanese govt to release radioactive waste water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear plant located at Sendai, Japan's east coast.
when he appeared at 5:42 . that gave me a chill
bad camera angle
@@Wingly113 no lah it's just something about this guy. if it was a lenglui show half ball come to his car window he will not get a chill but be very happy
Oh God, Mitsubishi such a reputable company can do this without regards to the health of people.
Old Japanese companies are not so safety responsible in the early days.
Heck Even Daihatsu is found to have fake a Safety Test Report recently
the current gov. championing this kind of issue currently in kuantan pahang previously when they are in opposition but when become gov. the case is quite...
Never knew of this actually
oh my gosh how come we didnt know
ermmm we know. you don't know.
1980s were a very different time, the prime minister had ISA power to detain anybody he doesn't like. The victims were ethnic Chinese, the government was also actively siding with the Japanese corporation, therefore it was swept under the carpet.
just at tip to the host, when the subject matter are explaining or speaking, please dont interrupt them constantly.. let them finish first before interjecting.
Mining SOP and technology for rare earth in 70s?
How about SOP and technology nowadays for earth rare mining?
OMG! Radioactive wastes being dumped in a pond the size of 6 Olympic sized pools?! Hope no fishes living there being sold at the wet market! Any spike in various cancers in the local residents from this area after birth defects & leukaemia cases being reported?! 🙏 Thank You So Much CNA for the illumination , as the Malaysian TV channels are not reporting this Radioactive Contamination in Bukit Merah in recent years ... 🕯🌍🕊🇲🇾🇸🇬
Not the pond, but the sand and concrete hill nearby. They mentioned the many layers of protection to prevent it from touching ground water. So guess thats why it is sort of in a remote area not accessible by walking or hiking.
Malaysia media dare not touch all this issues as usual billions at stake🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑
@@lrc3661Malaysian journalist all bootlickers and work for politicians all the time.
This feels half baked. While it showed pictures of Lynas and Kuantan, the story is about Bukit Merah, Perak which are hundreds of miles apart and somewhat different in their issues. The ending asks questions but only in general and on the surface
Japanese never admitted their wrong doing in every case. not in what they did during WW1 not even in other cases. they might sees themselves as a high morally good society but people never forget what they did. we will never forget.
Malaysian govt weak is the problem here too.
you got the wrong war lmao
ww2 bruh. they with the allies in ww1.
You not only stated a false point about the war, you got the point entirely wrong bruh, literally BRUH
Tell me u never learn history without telling me.
i have lived in malaysia my whole life i never knew about this
As a Malaysian, this is the first time Im hearing about it
And yet people are shocked that Japan is now dumping nuclear waste water into the sea when they have been doing it so many years ago in Malaysia 🤣🤣🤣
no different from the radioactive water your nuclear power plants are pumping into the sea in far greater quantities, chinazi
1, earth is constantly moving, so doesn't matter how tight u pack the soil it will still move little by little
2, the weather and rainfall which would play a big part of flushing the soil on top or below the burried "tomb"
3, doesnt matter how strong the concrete is it will still crack and concrete are porous which water will sips through
4, depends of the radioactive waste, it could have different types of radiation waves and half life, might be 100 or 1000 years until it become safe for exposure, but lead is almost permanent and with all the natural causes and phenomenon, definitely there are something leaking from there
All we can hope for is the radioactive material could breakdown faster and the lead could maybe sink to deeper layer of the earth without reaching to ground water
I believe no company would want to spend money to mine and extract mineral from those waste where they're are mostly activated and inconvenience
Most of these waste are thorium which has very very long half life
wow! just WOW! they rather spent 100 million on cleanup than admit to their wrongdoings!
What a weird way to end this current affair program. Is there supposed to be Part 2 or what?
th-cam.com/video/HZaCzNIf7b0/w-d-xo.htmlsi=pJsMWL75SEgnBedX
+ So, they added layers and layers of protection to make sure its completely safe?
- Yes
Should be stop tape.
End of story.
Nothing to see.
But wait.
CNA cannot investigate many things in Singapore so must make content investigating neighbouring country’s wrongdoings.
Where is the location 6 of Olympics pools, we are like go fishing, need to know where?
Warn our friend's
It's a secret. 😊
owh cool.. we got our own radioactive disaster problems.. no wonder the lynas is such a topic for a Malaysian
Ask the old fox, he did it
The PM responsible is still alive today!!!
I am surprise that the actors didn't bring any survey meter in this clip.
That's explained why bukit merah got the best arawana breed in the World
How did u make video with wrong location info.. 😮💨
Only in Malaysia is this, nowhere else on earth imports toxic wastes to be processed. The local rakyat gets impoverished and denied the returns either way.
05:43 is how they greet you in JB.
Kutty's era
Which politician approved the processing facility to be build?
UMNO
this accident causes zombie kg pisang at perak
Didn't know this incident, when ?
1982
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_Bukit_Merah_radioactive_pollution
Watch the video la ffs
Apart from the DR revelation, plainly difficult chnanel did a better story on this bukit merah tragedy..
try this in Baidu 红尼山
again and again, when will the stop be? mistakes of the irresponsible authorities.
Bukit Merah Lahat Perak. Not Kuantan
Bauxite?
....and lessons never learned..again!
CNA, Since when this place is in Kuantan? Please do sure your fact
Perak probably is worst because too many projects fail and pollution.. why ?
Think about ... 'Enforcement'.
mafia and cartels running the show here..
Standards have been higher since, someone needs to revisit this story from the authority or CNA will just run their mouth without talking to the authority or experts
'Authority' ??? 😂 Good luck.
Who owned Asian Rare Earth plant?
35% Mitsubishi
35% Beh Minerals
20% Lembaga Tabung Haji
10% well connected local businessmen
How on earth I have never heard of this factory and its radioactive related processing activities, since it was only a stone away from my home ,I mean just how efficient Malaysian authorities of hiding their stupidity corruption practiced
Yeap, never transparent and corrupt to the core.
So Mitsubishi Chemical is the company. I am totally shocked and I would curse those people. Really evil company. 😤
CNA and people comments here are all hypocrites..we all here watching youtube with your electronic devices and the host using his iphone to 'google'. the fact that all your devices requires rare earth materials to make them... so if wanna keep your iphone and ipads, you will need Lynas.. and Singapore's high tech industries requires Lynas rare earth supplies to make electronics goods and semiconductors...
❤
what the malaysia goverment doing with this?? nothing?? just like that?? left it open stil?? adui.... useless
Kena pastikan org yg buat dipertanngugjawabkan.
Why did they recruit Grab drivers for this video?
Easily available via mobile apps compared to 'teksi sapu'.
Damm they are REALLY good at keeping this a secret because i never heard of this??
that is weird, if you do web-search, you will find many old videos, news and wikipedia about this incident. Who is keeping secret?
Now we have sanusi to thank for by bringing ree industry to kedah
It was bound to be explored anyway, because anwar and his Indonesian partner was trying to get the ree rights as well
send back to japan pls
Looks like CNA cover Malaysia stuff so much meanwhile Singapore there’s nothing to cover is CNA Malaysian company btw
Hmm what's wrong with covering news about other countries?
Its conventional or normal to look for dirt in your neighbour's backyard so as to create an issue, especially when diplomatic relations are not so good. Or worse still, your neighbour is a jerk.
Zaman Mahathir Dan Kroni
And people are wonder why they are repeating the same incident with lynas. The answer the easy, because the royal family of pahang...
Bukit Merah's wastes radioactive level is 30 to 800 times above the safety level while Lynas' wastes are within IAEA safety level
Your home cement, drinking water, banana, soil, etc all contain radioactive materials, no talking safety limit is like living in heaven
Lesson#1: Multinational corporations are soulless entity, its bottom line is all about profit, it cares about nothing else It has enormous wealth capable of buying any govts and officials in any country both east and west. It is like a slow growing cancer eating away humanity.
It was invented by western feudal lords / oligarchs masquerading as great a investment tool, but as we now know, corporation is where extremely wealthy oligarchs with their resources pooled together can buy any kingdoms and fund anything including wars, coups to ensure profitability and it all started with East Indian Companies owned by the Dutch and British and now they have evolved into modern corps like Big Banksters, Big Weapons, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Energy, Big Food corporations with little to no regulations and even if there are, it can always be resolved using "corp lobbying".
One thing for sure, IT WILL destroy humanity.
@@NK_Khoo-Malaysiantrue, lynas waste can safely turn into fertilizer but they can't sell bcos didn't have approval.
you a hypocite,..you are here watching youtube with your electronic devices.. the fact that all your devices requires rare earth materials to make them... so wanna keep your iphone.. you need Lynas..
not buying mitsubishi cars again😮
Who was the Prime Minister at that time ?
Mahathir bin Mohammad
@@timloo6191 Thanks. Who was his Deputy ?
@ahmadshauki5612 who was the one involved in nfc case?
@@ahmadshauki5612is google broken cos it seems like the information is easily attainable from a google search. so, your point being?
@@ahmadshauki5612 Musa Hitam
Report's voice is kinda sexy 😂❤
kat mana ni tak tau pun
Bukit merah
Red Hill
ALPS
Normal la we pipit cannot do anything all helang project , malaysia is own and control by helang to enrich themself , we everyday kena bait fight 3r religion while they keep abuse their power😂
topkek
that's why we need to look after our country. These overseas companies, especially Asians, many have less regards for the locals. Previous we have a lot of Japanese companies, now we see a lot of companies from that other country.
Never knew Malaysia ever had a Chernobyl experience 😂
Dude just soypoged
Sounds like everyday normal Monday problems in Malaysia 😂😂😂
How u ended the show says a lot for the motive of this episode.
Hv u ever produce stories of Malaysia with positive vibes?
Like seriously many people suffered; have some respect
It was the sultan fault
Idk there are Rare earth in Malaysia 😮😮
💀