NOT very long ago, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad lamented that because of the Asian Rare Earth (ARE) factory’s radioactive waste in Bukit Merah, Malaysia had lost one square mile of land as it had been rendered useless because the waste is buried there.
He had said Australian rare earths mining company Lynas must take its waste out of Malaysia as he did not want a repeat of the incident at Bukit Merah.
This was upon the heels of the statement by the environmental minister that Lynas had signed an agreement to export its waste before it was granted its licence.
Suddenly he is singing a different tune, having so quickly forgotten what he had said earlier.
After ARE was closed down by a court order (the affected residents had taken a case against the factory), foreign industries did not stop coming to Malaysia, among others, provide cheap labour and “friendly enforcement” of laws.
They can always “kow tim” (settle) and get their way, as Lynas seems to have done despite a written agreement that it will transport its waste out of Malaysia, and that it can only store a limited amount of waste on-site.
The amount of waste stored on-site has increased by maybe a hundred times or more and there has been no enforcement.
In Bukit Merah, the ARE had been ordered to bury its waste in trenches lined with reinforced concrete that met international standards.
The factory built about 10 trenches on a little hillock. Each was about 20m long, 3m deep, 4m wide at the top and 2m wide at the bottom.
The slanted sides had been lined with a thin layer of cement plaster that had started breaking off and falling in.
Years ago, the local residents complained but all fell on deaf ears. They invited the then prime minister Dr Mahathir to visit the site.
He did not do so, claiming the trenches had been examined by the departments concerned and met all requirements. Soon after he went to the UK for a three-week holiday and his deputy Musa Hitam took over as acting prime minister.
The residents invited him to see the trenches. He went. Just a look and he condemned them as unfit to store radioactive waste.
Dr Mahathir returned, pulled up Musa and gave him a tongue lashing for having brought discredit to the government by visiting the site and overturning his earlier decision.
Dr Mahathir’s argument was that when the government made a stand, it must be supported by all in the government so that the government’s image and reputation were not brought into question.
That was the last straw for Musa who threw in the towel and left. He then wrote about it in his book The Musa Dilemma.
I drove to Bukit Merah to see what Dr Mahathir had scolded Musa for.
When I saw what I saw, I couldn’t believe that Dr Mahathir was ready to allow ARE to bury radioactive waste with a half life of a million years or more in earth trenches.
Where was the four-inch reinforced concrete lining the sides and the bottom?
With the radioactive waste now “safely” buried, Dr Mahathir is lamenting the loss of a square mile of land as it cannot be used for anything.
What if the waste had been buried in the earthen trenches? I cannot reconcile that the prime minister was so reckless about this.
He has forgotten it and is now allowing Lynas to keep in Malaysia thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste.
He is giving face to recalcitrant industrialists who are prepared to sign “good behaviour” agreements and then throw them in the bin without fear of being taken to task. This is an invitation to bad industries to come to Malaysia.
While other nations are cleaning up their backyards, we are allowing some of them to dump their waste in ours.
Is this the way to being a “developed country”, a “first world country”? – August 13, 2019.
* Ravinder Singh reads The Malaysian Insight.
* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.
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Comments
Posted 6 years ago by Mindy Singh · Reply
No one would have complained if MoE introduced computer coding instead of Khat! And it prepares us for a high tech future.
Posted 6 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply
" .... Dr Mahathirs argument was that when the government made a stand, it must be supported by all in the government so that the governments image and reputation were not brought into question...." - Khat also again? So racism can be implemented with impunity? (MCA? MIC? in the BN era?)
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An emperor expected to be served by eunuchs??
(Not surprising, PDRM is all quiet on the "video". No one is allowed to contradict!!!
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Something else .....
" ..... He said Zakir could not be repatriated because his life could be at risk in India....."
Same thing he said when Indonesia asked Malaysia to repatriate Abu Bakar Bashir. He refused.
Consequently many Malaysians, Singaporean, Indonesians, Australian, British, etc ..... lost their lives ... due to NOT risking ONE (foreigner's) life !!!!!
Posted 6 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Malaysian First · Reply
Posted 6 years ago by Tanahair Ku · Reply