I'm in Malaysia at the moment or a month over christmas and new...

I'm in Malaysia at the moment or a month over christmas and new year and had a bit of time to kill so i started doing some reading and investigating the Lynas thing here.
I've been reading the straits times over a leaisurely breakfast each day too and Lynas seems to pop up regularly in the business section or in the letters section.

The overwhelming sentiment seems to be that support is strong for the project amongst the people and the government, with protests limited to small bunch of rabid locals from Kuantan.

The Malaysian government is also currently selling the idea to the nation of having to broaden the tax base away from the petrochemical heavy industrial taxation system they have currently. Without mentioning any companies by name they discuss a broader industrial tax landscape, greater investment in non petrochemical businesses (even though petronus is currently inking a deal with some oil majors for a project in Malaysia).

It seems the government knows these protesters are just a crazy bunch whose voice seems to be waning not waxing, with a business model for the country that includes this type of investment. The message seems to be one of support.

From what I can see and read here, it seems just a matter of process until operational licences are given and this could serve as the blueprint for deaing with rowdy uninformed locals long term as more international businesses enter the fray.

ho ho ho.

R