Dr M warns against ‘pariah’ treatment of Lynas
KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad says Lynas Corporation cannot be asked to leave the country “like a pariah” as this would jeopardise future investments in Malaysia.
“If we treat Lynas like a pariah and ask them to leave this country, we won’t be able to get other people to come and invest,” he told reporters when asked about claims by critics of the rare earths miner that the company’s licence was renewed due to his close ties with the Japanese government.
Speaking after the launch of a tourism conference here today, the prime minister added that Malaysia had invited Lynas to come and invest in the country.
Lynas had been embroiled in controversy for several years, with environmentalists and Pakatan Harapan politicians protesting against its plant in Kuantan, Pahang, on health grounds and calling for its closure.
On Aug 15, Putrajaya agreed to renew its licence to operate in the country for another six months subject to several conditions.
These include building a cracking and leaching facility outside Malaysia within four years of the renewal and identifying a permanent disposal facility with written approval from the relevant authorities.
Mahathir today said the anti-Lynas group was concerned about the rare earths waste produced, despite the opinion of experts that such waste was not dangerous.
“The people who are against Lynas, they still want to get rid of Lynas.
“(But) it is a big investment of RM1.7 billion and created 700 high quality jobs.”
When asked again if Lynas’ licence had been renewed because of his ties with Japan, Mahathir said, “Nothing to do with Japan.”
The decision on Lunas must be based on Science, not Emotions
ReplyDeleteHere's a simple science quest for yr inquisitive mind.
DeleteTin tailing, or monazite, is mildly radioactive due to its thorium/uranium components intermixed with the rare earth elements.
Papan has tons of them in their surroundings due to the legacy tin mining operations.
The locals had not been suffering any radioactive related diseases for yrs since living at the area.
Thing started to change when ARE started operation to refine rare earth element, yttrium, from monazite. The locals started to encounter more & more cases of radioactive related illnesses since ARE commenced refinery operation.
On top of that, the radioactivity of the leftover refined residues shown exceeding dangerous level, harmful to human.
What's yr take based on yr scientific mind?
The common case between ARE & Lynas is that aelb, just a reminder. AELB made the same claim that ARE was safe & its radioactive waste was of human tolerating level!
Don't let those rd morons confused the cases as they r of different!