Natalie Lowrey was detained and sent to Bali, allegedly because of her involvement in demonstations against Lynas Corporation

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A Sydney-based New Zealand activist has been refused entry to Malaysia after being blacklisted by police, believed to be because of her involvement in protests against an Australian-owned rare earth mining company.



Natalie Lowrey was returning to Malaysia to act as an observer to the trials of 15 Malaysians who were arrested alongside her at a 1,000-strong protest against Lynas Corporation in June at the company’s Advanced Materials Plant in Kuantan.

Environmental activists say the Lynas plant produces toxic waste that is affecting local communities and accuse the company of avoiding transparency over where and how the waste will be stored once its temporary operating licence expires this week.

“Possibly they’ve used the attention I’ve drawn to a major environmental and social justice issue here, as an example, and they don’t want me to come back,” Lowrey told Guardian Australia on Monday.

“I arrived at five to eight last night, I handed my passport to immigration and the officers went away then they came back and got me and took me to a waiting room,” said Lowrey.

“Eventually they told me that the Malaysian police – not immigration – had blacklisted me from Malaysia,” she said, adding that no explanation was given.

“I had a couple of lawyers in [Kuala Lumpur] who were at least trying to get me deported straight to Sydney instead of via Bali.”

Lowrey said her lawyer was denied access to her and she was kept overnight at an area near the transfer counter. She claimed she was denied food and water and slept on the cold floor until early this morning, when she was handed to Air Asia for her flight back to Bali.

At the protest in June, Lowrey was arrested and detained for six days over breaches of Malaysia’s immigration act and peaceful assembly act.

Lowrey was eventually released without charge and was told she could come back to the country, but the 15 Malaysians protesters – who have reportedly been gagged from speaking publicly – face jail sentences of more than two years if convicted under penal code offences including rioting and breaches of the peaceful assembly act.

One man, Ho Kam Huat, was charged with using criminal force to deter a public servant from carrying out their duty.

“I was actually coming over as an observer to the 15 people I was arrested with who are facing trial,” said Lowrey.

Lowrey told Guardian Australia she witnessed Ho Kam Huat being beaten by police officers and that he was severely concussed and was hospitalised for two days.

“I walked across the police line to help those being beaten by the police and witnessed a man, Ho Kam Huat, being thrown to the ground violently and kicked by at least three police in uniform and another two plain-clothed police,” Lowrey told Human Rights Watch.

“At no point did I witness Ho Kam Huat throw punches or show any violence to the police.”

The district police chief, assistant commissioner Abdul Aziz Salleh, told Guardian Australia in June that the man was injured after he “retaliated against police”.

“In fact he was very violent. There was a lot of commotion but no serious injuries,” said Abdul Aziz.

Lynas has been the subject of numerous protests and challenges over the last few years. A 2011 International Atomic Energy Agency team found the Kuantan plant lacked a comprehensive long-term waste management program or a plan to dismantle the plant when it closed.

“Local people are concerned about the contamination of coastal environments and adverse health impacts that could arise from mismanagement of radioactive waste streams, as seen with the rare earth refinery operated by Mitsubishi Chemicals at Bukit Merah in the 80s and 90s,” said the Stop Lynas campaign.

Kuantan resident Seet Ping and secretary of the grassroots movement Himpunan Hijau said the processing plant was built “quietly” without informing locals “and day by day the toxic radioactive wastes are piling up in open storage ponds in the plant, which is situated in a low-lying swampy area exposed to yearly extreme monsoon weathers”.

In a May 2014 business update presentation, Lynas said it “has provided, and will continue to provide, to the relevant authority in Malaysia evidence of Lynas’ compliance with the TOL conditions and with the prerequisites for the issuance of a [full operating licence]”.

It added there is “no guarantee that persons or groups opposed to Lynas and the [processing plant]” won’t launch further challenges against the issuing of a full operating licence.