Two Sides of the Lynas Story

So at the moment I am in my hotel room in Seoul, going back home tomorrow and concluding my 4 day stay here. While I am here, I realised that the whole story of the "Lynas" situation has escalated even further back home, with the Atomic Energy Council giving them the green light to continue on with their rare earth material plant.

[Gebeng - the centre of the issue]

While I like to reinstate again that I do not have a clear stand on either side of the story, my concern is whether the general public are aware of BOTH sides of the story before actually picking a side to begin with? Too many times I have mentioned in my previous post that we Malaysians have the tendency to get a little "too excited" over something new and hot in the news.

So the way I see it, perhaps I'll put forth what I understand with both sides of the story.

On one side of the spectrum we have the ever loud protests of people against the project and I can see why. Similar reasons why TNB has never been tempted to use nuclear power as a source of energy would be the same reason why most Malaysians would not want to have the rare earth material plant here in Pahang.

There are too much uncertainty in regards to radioactive waste.

[Ghastly possibility of the future Pahang]

With that picture in mind, the last thing that the people around the area would want is to have that thought that for profit, the destruction of land, people and community might occur with damages that we ourselves are not able to comprehend. I believe that the question in every person is that what if the worse was to happen with the establishment of the plant, with us not having ANY MEANS at all of preparing ourselves for a radioactive after effect.

[Unhappy with Lynas - shown]

But what if it doesn't happen? What if everything is done proper and no nuclear holocaust?

For one must understand that rare earth material are one of the most expensive material that can be mined at the moment for the reason that it contributes to almost every aspect of commercial and everyday residential use known to man. With this, the production of the material is a necessary cause, perhaps to even the same reasoning of people mining for oil.

[Presence of rare earth material in every day life]

I believe that the issue here is of course the uncertainty that shadows the plant itself. Unfortunately due to false and immature way of spinning out a story, some people make it look as if Pahang WILL turn into the next Chernobyl the minute we allow Lynas to come and built their plant here.

Despite what has been said, one must understand that arguments against Lynas so far has been based on "what if"s and "what might happen" situation, with no confirmed possibilities as to yet. Except for the research and analysis done by IAEA that mentions the plant is safe for operations, as long as all radioactive wastes are dealt with the manner that has been guaranteed by the company to comply to the international standard of waste disposal.

Fact of the matter is, perhaps that certain "unnamed" parties are more interested of using this whole issue as a propaganda tool rather than really concerning for the general public itself. Because the way I understand the situation, a lot of people fed with so much negative information about the plant, many have acted out without really weighing the pros and cons of the subject.

Even some fighting like wild animals.

In conclusion is very simple, I implore everyone out there to have a stand of what he/she feels about the project and I will absolutely respect that. However, I would also implore those to include an analysis of both side of the story before making a solid stand on the case. With that in mind, come at least when someone questions why a person comes up with an opinion on a matter, it is brought up with a sound judgement.

Not the ones that pick up the negative issues without comparing against the positive ones like an uneducated person and scream and shout like an animal. Those are the ones I refuse to give credit and respect.

Because sometimes its way to easy to hate without a reason. Its extremely hard to hate intellectually.

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