Liverpool Secure Champions League Progression

Liverpool reached the final in sensational fashion last season – but this time, the Reds left it down to the last round of the group stage to determine whether they progressed to the knockout stages. 

Having already lost to each of their Group C opponents, Paris Saint-Germain, Red Star Belgrade and Napoli, Jurgen Klopp‘s side faced a tough task as they took on the latter in a must-win game at Anfield. 

Napoli showed how good they were in spells but Liverpool were the better side. Yes, they put it right against the Italian side. 

The Reds had a massive share of chances – but only one gave us that important outcome. 

That was Mo Salah’s goal in the thirty-fourth minute which won the tie for Liverpool and we finished runners up in Group C. 

Our matchwinner (left) had brilliantly turned onto James Milner’s threaded pass into the box and squeezed his shot beyond an out-of-depth David Ospina from a tight angle to make it 1-0.

And not to forget the magnificent save by Alisson Becker (right) during injury time which was equally important. It was a lifesaver!

We needed to win with a clean sheet or by two clear goals to make the last 16 – and we did it.

YAYYY-Y-Y, LIVERPOOL QUALIFIED!

About 130 Lynas employees travelled from Gebeng, Kuantan in Pahang to hold a demo in front of the Parliament compound yesterday. They carried placards with messages such as “Save our jobs” and “Be fair to Lynas”. 

The protestors led by Lynas Malaysia senior human resource manager Jumaat Mansor also delivered a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad that urged the government to objectively review the Australian miner’s operations in the country. 

“We plead with the government to review any decision made on Lynas based on scientific research and findings”, he had said and insisting Lynas Malaysia have met all regulatory requirements imposed on the firm. 

We hear you – but please get the Lynas management to abide by the pre-conditions set. The ball is in their court.

Malaysia Ready for Lynas to Take Legal Action

Lynas had made loud noises about taking legal action. 

The way I look at it – they are threatening the Malaysian government. 

If you’ve been following my blog, you will know what I am talking about.

But Lynas don’t know they cannot ruffle Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin’s feathers that easily! 

On Thursday, Yeo (right) said: “…we are all ready for (the legal action) because everything we do is according to the rule of law”. 

For good measure, she added: “Lynas cannot come and dictate how the rule of law is being applied in Malaysia and you cannot be asking for an exemption as if it is your right, your entitlement”. 

Simply put, they must move out the wastes from our shores, as agreed. 

She also said the government are not setting new conditions for Lynas’ existing licences – it was, therefore, timely that she reminded them that the waste removal from Malaysia was one of the preconditions for the renewal of their operations here in Malaysia. 

Lynas should stop pussyfooting around! Malaysians want Lynas to keep to their commitments that they made. It's that straightforward.

Yeo Bee Yin is right to put Malaysians as her No. 1 priority. Thumbs-up to her. 

On Wednesday evening, I was at the EcoWorld Head Office in Setia Avenue in Setia Alam, Selangor. 

In spite of the presence of only a handful of members, the EcoWorld Toastmasters Club exco went ahead with the meeting. And it was still an enjoyable meeting for all! 

I was both the Toastmaster and a Speaker and I delivered a speech from the Competent Communication manual. 

Now this was a speech with a difference – I had challenged EcoWorld Toastmaster Ivan Kerk to evaluate me – and gave him the opportunity to suggest a topic for my CC#3. Meaning, my evaluator will come up with a topic just before my name was called up and I’m supposed to talk about it for 5-7 minutes and also ensuring the speech objectives were properly met. 

I believe both of us were happy that both the speech and evaluation went well.

Lynas Want to Backtrack on Commitment

It has been revealed that the Lynas rare earth refinery in Gebeng, Pahang have accumulated 1.113 million metric tonnes of non-radioactive neutralisation underflow residue scheduled waste over a period of six years. 

Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin (right) cited the Environment Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 – where government regulations only allow a limit of 20 metric tonnes of scheduled waste to be stored on site for 180 days or lesser. 

And that’s not all. Lynas have also accumulated 451,564 metric tonnes of Water Leach Purification residue, which contains radioactive material. 

The fact of the matter is that the rare-earths mining company which operate LAMP (Lynas Advanced Materials Plant) had committed in 2012 to send the residues away from Malaysia. 

Now they are applying for exemptions, meaning, they do not intend to honour their word. 

FYI, LAMP’s temporary storage licence for radioactive residue in Malaysia is up for renewal in September 2019, while the approval for non-radioactive waste storage is valid until February 2019. 

Anyway, Yeo’s Ministry had imposed pre-conditions on the company if they are to continue their operations in the country – after the completion of an environmental audit of the Gebeng processing plant. 

The Ministry had even explained their concern for the snowballing of accumulated residue at Lynas' open landfill temporary site that could be hit by major flooding or other natural disasters, spelling out the risk to the surrounding communities and environment. 

Yet Lynas had the cheek to express surprise at this MESTECC decision! 

This Australian company, it would seem, want special treatment. They forget that Najib Razak’s government had been booted out. 

The PH government would not tolerate this – and the rule of law must apply to all companies operating in Malaysia. As Yeo rightly said, Lynas shouldn’t expect any form of exemptions from the government. 

Way to go, Yeo Bee Yin! 

On Wednesday, I was back at The Pinnacle in Sunway, Selangor for the Roche Toastmasters meeting. I was one of the specch evaluators that day and I was voted Best Evaluator. Nice. 

It’s good to see that club members are wanting to learn and benefit from the Toastmasters program – and with the right help given by external Toastmasters, this club can only excel.

Lynas are Safe, Lynas Insist

Lynas Corporation Limited CEO and managing director Amanda Lacaze (left) has come out with a public statement that Lynas Malaysia are not a nuclear plant and they do not produce nuclear waste. 

She also maintains that the high quality rare earth material processed in the company’s plant had not shifted the background radiation level. 

Reassuring Malaysians, she insists: “We are a lawful company, we comply with all of our licence conditions, everything that we do is about zero harm to our people, zero harm to environment, zero harm to the community”. 

[Background info: Lynas Malaysia have been operating a processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan in Pahang which refines rare earth ores from the Lynas mine in Western Australia for the past six years. But there persists claims that the activities carried out at the plant pose health hazards as they produce toxic and radioactive waste]. 

Lacaze said there was no toxic or radioactive waste produced by the plant; instead the by-products of their rare earth refining activities produced two forms of gypsum – an iron-rich phosphogypsum (WLP) that contains very low level naturally occurring radiation and a magnesium rich gypsum known as NUF which is a non-radioactive material. 

Both residues are safely managed under regulations expertly enforced by the Malaysian government through the Department of Environment and the Atomic Energy Licensing Board, she says. 

The WLP residues at Lynas Malaysia are stored on site in purpose-built, above ground storage facilities designed and managed in accordance with the requirements of international best practice. 

Echoing her pronouncements, Lynas Malaysia Radiation Safety General Manager Prof Ismail Bahari informs that the International Atomic Energy Agency had clarified that the radiological risk from the Lynas operation is intrinsically low. 

The Pakatan Harapan government have established a Lynas Executive Review Committee to scrutinize the environmental safety issues involving the Lynas Advance Material Plant operations. And Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh (right) is chairing this panel. 

This week, it has been raining cats and dogs in the city.

Jalan Pudu, Kuala Lumpur. Image credit: Malay Mail/Azneal Ishak

So when I came across this Mark Twain quote, I just wanna share it – simply because Heaven should be a popular travel destination:

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go" – lines from the Peter, Paul and Mary song Leaving on a Jet Plane (1967) – may indeed ring true for some of us, haha!

Not just us. Some 'Muslims' have an extra incentive to want to go to Heaven. Whatever it takes.

They will willingly become martyrs so that when they ascend to heaven, they will be rewarded with seventy-two virgins! Hmmm. 

Lynas TOL Expires in 3 Weeks' TIme

  

In three weeks’ time, Lynas Advance Materials Plant’s (LAMP) Temporary Operating License (TOL) expires. September 03, 2014. It will have to cease operations if it is not renewed by then!

Will the Malaysian government wise up? I can only hope and pray.

Last evening, I was in Jalan 8/1D, Petaling Jaya where I delivered my CC#4 titled “Love is an Illusion”. I was evaluated by CP Lau. This is Round 7 of my Project 15. For a while, I carried an anxious look on my face because I didn’t know how this title for the speech came about. And I wasn't quite sure about what to speak but quick thinking ensured I had a speech that was coherent, cogent and compelling. I even injected humor into the speech and I am glad it turned out well. After all, I was voted Best Speaker.

I really don’t know if I find extemporaneous speaking easy to do but I am constantly challenging myself and admittedly, it can be stressful sometimes.

This club managed time very well and we started and ended on time. I shall give this meeting a score of an 8 over 10 – after all, I missed my Taman Indrahana meeting to be there and it was an evening that was well-spent.