While certainly not disagreeing ZP I just feel your conclusion is rather premature given the "politics" are a long way from finished in this situation.
Effectively we have a single minister, albeit the one that holds jurisdiction over Lynas operating licenses, that has gone rogue and hijacked the decision making process from Cabinet, and in doing so has demonstrated a very clear emotional bias against a single company, together with a complete disregard for the science & the heads of Dept's under her control. There is no excuse for the blatant disregard of the facts, particularly when there are far more pressing proven environmental issues Kuantan/Gebeng.
Very clearly Yeo has summed the issue purely along the lines of her own pre held bias with a total disregard for the economics as it impacts both locally and greater Malaysia. She appears to show a preference for the ST illegal profits from bauxite exploitation despite the blatant degradation & pollution so obvious even on Google maps.
Equally clearly LAMP presents Malaysia the opportunity to leverage REO into forward looking industries for decades, as per the Chinese template, potentially a huge ongoing source of income, not dependent on Malaysian natural resources but the IP & capital it will draw.
The Q remains whether the Cabinet will settle for its governance of broader Malaysian interests to be usurped by a junior minister intent on governing by her narrow personal bias via social media or will it assert its power to make more balanced decisions in the interests of broader Malaysia?
Lynas interests, and certainly that of SH's, are irrelevant to Cabinet who are charged with governing to Malaysia's greater good. Given the science is clear, and tested over 6 yrs of operation, and the economics equally clear Cabinet would be negligent not to examine this issue in both the national interest, and that of major trading partners.
However Cabinet has two problems, Yeo Inc have totally disregarded the science, purposely elevating the emotive aspects via social media, and broadcast "governance by bias & fear" to any prospective investors in a Malaysian RE supply chain, very much incl Lynas Board.
Who would commit capital given Yeo's willingness to override longstanding license agreements with dictates issued via social media??? To debate via FB rather than ever visiting the LAMP, not even to attend the public inquiry she established to purportedly "listen to the people".
Occurs to me there is an incredibly simple way for Cabinet to both shut down the emotive rabble AND offer future surety to both Lynas and most likely Japanese companies keen to invest in a downstream supply chain, simply update Malaysian regulation in line with international norms as Dr Looi has been pointing at for years:
"All the advanced countries like the USA, UK, Canada, France, Japan and Australia ALLOWS and FOLLOWS this basic safety principle of World Health Organisation, International Labour Organisation and other reputable international organisations.
Any NORM (Naturally Occurring Material) with an activity of 10 Bq/g or less is considered to be non-radioactive for transportation purposes with no restrictions in all the advanced countries but in Malaysia the level of activity is fixed at a miserable 1 Bq/g because the Malaysian regulations are outdated and is based on the obsolete 1985 IAEA transport recommendation."
Perhaps this is just too simple, but Cabinet must have the power to update Malaysian regulations, and it would hardly be contentious, require great study or debate when the precedent is long established across the developed world.
By realigning Malaysian regulations to international standard Mahathir's Cabinet could both cut thru the emotive dross and offer Lynas + international investors LT surety in developing a key ROW supply chain.
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