The Lynas con

It would be a great loss to Malaysia if misguided people prevent us from extracting and using the high clean electrical capacities of rare earth. Just as the lithium ion batteries in the cellular phones is not harmful even when we carry them everywhere in our pockets and put them to our ears, the mining and extracting of rare earth from Malaysian earth will not harm us in any way. – Mahathir Mohamad, 2012. 

It does not matter what your position is on the Lynas issue. What matters is the fact that the Harapan government’s u-turn on Lynas makes the anti-Lynas activists look like a bunch of dodgy environmentalist who duped the then Harapan base with propaganda. 

Keep in mind the dodgy environmentalists were supported by mendacious politicians who jumped on the bandwagon sloganeering and making promises that shutting down Lynas would save Malaysia.

Back in 2012 at an anti-Lynas rally in Penang , the then Penang Chief Minister led a chant of, “Henti Lynas, Selamatkan Malaysia' (Stop Lynas, Save Malaysia). Anwar Ibrahim, now PM designate, claimed that if the then Pakatan Rakyat won Putrajaya, they would cancel the Lynas project and defend all environmental and heritage issues.

This was seven years ago. Since then the anti-Lynas rhetoric leading up to the historic May 9 win became more intense. Lynas was portrayed as an existential threat to Malaysia. Commentary around the issue hit the usual Harapan talking points. The talking points revolved around, corruption, an uncaring government and that the Umno regime was intent on committing crimes environmental and otherwise on Malaysian citizens.

While Harapan’s manifesto may have been silent on the issue, is this an excuse for allowing Lynas to continue its operations – even if such a decision is “kicking the can down the road” – instead of keeping promises made by politicians on the run up to May 9, which was supposed to not only save Malaysia but save lives?

Wong Tack (above), whose appeal was that he was more activist than politician, rode on the anti-Lynas wave and become part of a coalition that overthrew the Najib regime. The Lynas issue, which for so long we were told was an existential threat to Malaysia, became a symbol of the radioactive nature of Umno politics that seemed to be on the verge of being settled.

The government’s backtracking on this particular issue is appalling. Before the historic May 9th win, politicians from Harapan portrayed this issue as one of life and death. The propaganda coming out from the then Harapan opposition painted the Umno regime as culpable for all sorts of imagined crimes if the “radioactive” Lynas by-products infected the citizens of Malaysia.

Now we are told that even though the situation is less than ideal, it is preferable to the status quo. Preferable to the status quo? Before the election, stopping Lynas meant saving lives. What changed?

DAP Youth deputy chief Chiong Yoke Kong is on the ball when he demands that the minutes of the cabinet meeting be made public and the stand of each cabinet minister on this issue be revealed. Malaysians have a right to know, which cabinet member does not want to save Malaysia, or was just playing Harapan supporters for fools when he or she claimed that stopping Lynas meant saving lives and saving Malaysia.

The cynic in me wonders if DAP youth already knows the answer to their query and are confident that what is revealed would cause them no fallout, but why question political motives for transparency when it comes to this issue?

It gets even more curious when you consider the comments of Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Fuziah Salleh who somehow finds a way to blame former BN ministers for being "deceived" by Lynas but loses the courage to name these ministers.

How long is Harapan going to blame the BN regime for their backtracking and policy failures? The real question is how come these former BN political operatives have more influence in the Harapan government than Harapan political operatives?

And doesn't this demonstrate the utter failure of Harapan political operatives in containing the influence of former Umno/BN members who we were told would be controlled when Harapan claimed the throne of Putrajaya. 

Meanwhile, Wong Tack, wonders if there are dark secrets about the Lynas deal that people don’t know off. Well, yes, there very well could be some dark deals or maybe it is just business as usual for this government. What this government has done is make Wong Tack the poster child of the boy who cried wolf.

Wong said, “As the rakyat of Malaysia Baru, the people deserve to know the reasons if we are forced to swallow Lynas' toxic radioactive wastes and subject our children to so many risks,” which brings up a valid point.

Before the historic May 9th win, Harapan accused the Najib regime of allowing the citizens of Malaysia to be exposed to hazardous materials for profit. This appeal to emotion was the most virulent kind of anti-Lynas propaganda that implied that the Najib regime was so uncaring, so corrupt that the regime was willing to sell Tanah Melayu and poison children for profit.

The question of Wong Tack’s resignation is a legitimate one. I think Wong Tack should resign and run as an independent, if he believes that there are dark, secrets behind this deal and believes what he said of Lynas before the election.

After all, if he continues in his role as a politician for Harapan, he would just be carrying on the lies of a government that claimed that the Lynas issue was one of life and death for the good people of Kuantan.

Unless, that view was complete bunkum? Unless all the pre-election rhetoric demonizing Lynas and its supporters were part of a propaganda campaign against the Najib regime, and Harapan had no intention of shutting down Lynas. This explains the earlier views of the current grand poohbah.

Alternatively, maybe Harapan politicians knew that Lynas was not an existential threat to Malaysia and as such, Lynas should be allowed to continue because profit trumps whatever expectations Harapan supporters have of their elected reps. This makes the backtracking worse because in the Harapan dominated social media; pro-Lynas advocates were shouted down and portrayed as stooges for Lynas and the Najib regime.

Pro-Lynas advocates have argued that numerous false claims were made against the company and that there was a concerted effort to spin evidence and facts against the company. 

Meanwhile, Harapan politicians used Lynas to gin up a base which not only gorged on the 1MDB fiasco, but who had no problem believing that the Najib regime would endanger the lives of children with radioactive waste for profit.

When Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin says that “The Cabinet has taken note of various viewpoints on this issue, and some people have varying views. Therefore, this is the decision that has been reached” is complete horse manure.

I get that there could be varying views on this issue, but what is important is the views of the Harapan government that, before their electoral win, claimed that by shutting down Lynas this would save lives and Malaysia.

In other words, you said, you own it.

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S THAYAPARAN is Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy. A retired barrister-at-law, he is one of the founding members of the National Patriots Association. - Mkini