Dear Minister

DEAREST minister,

I read your reply to Lynas employees, and can’t say I am not dismayed. I write this as one of the only voices in support of Lynas, as your government, with specific respect to your ministry, seems unwilling to budge on any issue with regard to heavy metal processing and radiation-related activities.

As a holder of an MPhil in Advanced Chemical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, I expected more from you as a minister, especially regarding issues unpopular to the public.

Minister, I would like to refer you to the oft-repeated clarifications Lynas has provided on the topic of waste management. The company has clearly stated its commitment to undertake the recycling of its waste, to take advantage of the high concentration of highly valuableminerals present within it. For this, Lynas has invested a good amount of its annual profits to undertake detailed research and development.

In my opinion, as the energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister, you should be supportive of this and even partner with Lynas to speed up its efforts, while training Malaysians on the very same matter. As you would be rightly aware, the rare earth metals processed by Lynas are imperative to many technologies, especially those that produce green energy.

How can you, dear minister, antagonise a company that is imperative in producing the very solar panels and wind turbines you have championed?

But I digress. Your point was waste management, let me come back to that.

Lynas has, for years, stated its commitment to recycle its waste, failing which, it will identify and build permanent disposal sites for the said waste, failing which, it will extract all waste from Malaysia. This has been its commitment for so long. For you to imply only the extreme latter shows your bias against the company, and it is unbecoming of a person of your stature to do so.

Another matter I would like to discuss lies in your own ministry’s website. I wonder, dear minister, if you have read the report by the Executive Committee of the Operational Assessment for Lynas (Lamp)? In its recommendations, there is none stating the immediate removal of waste from Malaysia.

Granted, there are recommendations to remove waste from Malaysia if sites for permanent disposal cannot be identified or approved. On environmental considerations, an environmental impact assessment and a radiological impact assessment are recommended to ensure Lamp procedures are in line with what is safe. Moreover, on the release of a greater concentration of heavy metals into water streams, the report recommends research on where this breach of regulation comes from. Again, there is no immediate need to remove waste.

You have mentioned in your reply, dear minister, that the Lynas management is trying to stage a drama, that the use of paid advertorials and press conferences is to show the ministry in a bad light. Let me ask you a simple question. In a situation where the current government comprises those who are against Lynas’ business, in an era where people do not understand the company’s operations and are constantly attacking it unfairly, what is Lynas to do? It just so happens that Lynas has the means to get its side of the story out, and so it does, through whatever means possible.

I would argue that, in fact, it is you who is trying to show Lynas in a bad light by presenting sly arguments that wilfully hide most of the story to make you seem better in the public eye.

I wonder where your zeal goes when considering the myriad of coal-fired power plants in Malaysia. In fact, I remember our prime minister saying we should look to Sabahan coal for energy, rather than nuclear power. Where were you then? Why have you not gone to the multitude of independent power producers burning tonnes of coal to produce electricity, and slap them with fines? Or are they all miraculously clean-burning? Are you unaware of the pollution caused by coal? Or are you more interested in political power than doing your job well?

I don’t understand, dear minister, why you mentioned that Lynas is not keeping to its word when it is you who are trying to prematurely remove Lynas’ waste from Malaysia. No talk of recycling, no talk of looking for permanent disposal sites, pure vilification as if the company is hoodwinking the public. What is this vitriol? Why Lynas?

Actually, we know why. Lynas is an unpopular company, often regarded as the ultimate bogeyman. You don’t care about proper procedure, you care about votes. You care about your image as a green minister, a minister who fights for a cleaner Malaysia. While I can commend you for moving against plastic straws and trying to make solar power more popular, I must say it is deeply disappointing that such an intelligent person would wilfully use a business to further their own cause. Shame on you, minister.

I read as well the partial reply to your letter from the deputy president of Lynas, Mimi Afzan Afza, on your non-response to Lynas’ multiple invitations for you to visit its site. Now, I cannot comment on whether this is true, but assuming it is, how can you judge a company without having engaged with it in the first place? Is this another attempt to undermine Barisan Nasional’s policies just to make yourself feel better? If so, how dare you utilise your esteemed offices to further your own cause, when it is for that very reason the people of Malaysia kicked out BN in May. Or is that too far back to remember?

Enough with the silliness. Stop antagonising Lynas and work with it to better its process, if needed. It is not rare earth metals that are our enemy; it is coal and other fossil fuels. Yet, we are seeing the development of a third national car with no talk of divestment from these harmful industries.

From what I can gather, Lynas is following procedure quite well. Most of its processes and activities are not harmful, and where there are problems, they can be dealt with locally. When all else fails, Lynas can and has promised to remove its wastes post-haste. It is even economically low-impact, as you have rightly pointed out.

So please, move on and stop deceiving Malaysians further. It takes away from the great work you are otherwise doing. Thank you for your time. – December 14, 2018.

* Arveent Kathirtchelvan is chief coordinator of Liberasi.

https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/118615