All important first round goes to Lynas people (updated)

This is indeed good news

Neutral experts for Lynas review committee

I'm taking this in good faith. That the neutral experts are really neutral and expert in the field. And that no one will influence them on how to do their work and conclude their findings.

I think Dr Mahathir must have put pressure on environment minister Bee Yin to do this one properly.

I imagined the handsome old man saying this to Bee Yin,

"This is number one bullshit. You are making us look bad by wanting to put that crazy Fuziah and nut case Wong Tuck in the committee. Put real experts in there if you really need to do this nonsense."

Something like that.

I have the suspicion that Dr Mahathir thinks all these Lynas radiation thingy was just nonsense. Otherwise he would have said something about it back then when the likes of Fuziah and Wong Tuck started to ride on the issue to win the general election in 2013.

I'm quite sure he didn't say anything to support those two and will never do so.

You can read my concerns earlier over the issue at these links;

• Lynas' worries - the risk of not being factual and objective

• Shutting down Lynas may tilt the balance of global power

Then of course came this good news,

MP Fuziah withdraws from Lynas review committee

Don't know how Kuantan people can vote her to be their 3rd term MP. Real crazy.

Well, as I wrote earlier, all Lynas wants is for the review committee to be neutral.

That's because they were sure they will win the case if the review is to be done professionally and its findings are based on evidence and facts.

Now that they won that part of the battle, things must look better for Lynas workers and others who support them.

I wish these people all the best.

InsyaAllah, they will still have their job, business and other good things after the committee had done with its review.

UPDATES at 13:03

Sorry.

Dr Mahathir actually did say something previously about Lynas.

I just found this one by Bernama dated Dec 18, 2012

Mahathir agrees with government on Lynas

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 18: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed has agreed with the government's decision to continue with the Lynas rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan and disagreed with protesters that the plant was dangerous.

Condemning the action of protesters over the heavily politicised rare earth plant in Kuantan, he said the nation needed to accept that it was not harmful, and important for the country to reap the benefits from the existence of rare earth in the country.

“I think we need to stick to the fact that it is true that there are nuclear materials that are very dangerous and need to be handled carefully and with responsibility.

“Rare earth is not dangerous like nuclear…rare earth is not yet known to cause diseases among users of its end product,” he said in his speech at the Chemical Industries Council of Malaysia (CICM) Responsible Care Awards 2011/2012 dinner, last night.

He said rare earth, used as a component for batteries and magnets, was a very important material for the electronic industry.

He said that the process undertaken at the Lynas plant was not a dangerous process and its safety had been assured by the world’s best expert and certified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Meanwhile, Responsible Care Awards 2011/2012 saw Petronas subsidiary, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd, winning six gold, four silver and 13 merit awards under the Corporate Awards category for the Six Codes of Management Practice.

“As a chemicals industry leader, Petronas Chemicals is constantly vigilant in observing health, safety and environment standards and continuously strives for the best practices,” CICM president/chief executive officer Dr Abd Hapiz Abdullah said.

The awards are the chemical industry’s unique global initiative to drive continuous improvement in all aspects of safety, health and environmental performance. - Bernama

You can also read this from Dr Mahathir's blog (please click on the link),

LYNAS ← Chedet