As the leader of our nation, the PM should be a person I can look up to. When the PM gives an assurance, I should be able to accept it with full confidence as it is coming from our head of government.
It is a sad reflection on the state of governance in our country that sadly, very sadly, I cannot feel that way about the current PM.
This is in particular with regards to the Lynas issue.
Two very crucial questions remain unanswered to date.
(1) If the project is that safe and meets all international safety standards why is the parent company paying extra for the transportation costs to send the raw materials 4000km through the high seas to be processed in Gebeng?
Can it be the lives of the rakyat of Malaysia are less valuable than that of the citizens of Australia?
Why not build the plant in Western Australia itself where the raw materials are mined? If Lynas wants to give us the nonsense about it being more profitable to have the plant at Gebeng, please give us the breakdown of the figures.
And you don't have to tell us that labour is cheaper in Gebeng and you folks are enjoying a 12 year tax holiday.
But all this means you folks are reaping obscene profits at the expense of the rakyat of Malaysia. Sure, you folks will claim there will be a cascading effect on the local economy which will get the crumbs from your operations.
(2) The PM has tried to join the Lynas bandwagon by trying to convince the rakyat of the project's safety. Please spare the rakyat such deceit.
Enough information is available online and through the efforts of those who oppose the project that if it is that safe, it would have been built in Western Australia in the first instance.
Yes, RM800 million investment by Lynas in buiding the plant is no small amount.
To scrap it now is indeed a very momentous decision. But it is indicative of how a lack of transparency can lead to massive problems as the rakyat becomes more knowledgeable.
I pride to think of myself as a rational person. I am not opposing the project just for the sake of opposing it.
Yet until satisfactory answers to the above crucial questions are given, all the efforts of Lynas and the government to assure detractors of the necessity of the project will come up short.
SOURCE: Malaysiakini
Comments