Lynas’ fate remains blurry
On June 19, it was reported that Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, Yeo Bee Yin had postponed her meeting with Australia regarding the removal of Lynas’ radioactive waste in Malaysia.
The ministry’s spokesperson revealed that the meeting that was supposed to take place on Thursday had been postponed “pending further development”.
According to previous reports, Yeo insisted to visit the country to discuss on Lynas’ waste although Tun Mahathir had announced that the processing plant would continue its operation in Malaysia. Yeo insisted that the Australian government should take back its waste.
Nevertheless, Yeo had been inactive in addressing the Lynas issue in the past three months. As a minister responsible in managing the environmental issues in Malaysia, Yeo ranked at number five in the topic of Lynas, coming out with only 45 statements in the past month.
In fact, these statements were not directly released by the minister herself, but through a spokesperson. The last statement that came out directly from Yeo’s mouth regarding the Lynas issue was on the 1st of June.
Then, she said the decision on whether Lynas is to continue its operation in Malaysia will only be revealed after her trip to Australia. Since then, Yeo had been silent on the issue.
The Lynas issue has been going on for more than a decade. Yet, the rare earths processing plant remains operational until today. Do you think the public concern on Lynas waste management able to put a halt to the processing plant?