YOURSAY | ‘If the waste is safe as claimed by Lynas, why didn’t Australia want to accept it back?’

Australia shoots down Putrajaya's bid to return Lynas' radioactive waste

Ravinder: Lynas and those who welcomed the company into Malaysia have to be made responsible for taking the waste out of Malaysia.

This is what happens when naive politicians eager to "develop" their areas accept with open arms what other countries don't want.

Look at the plastic waste making mountains in Malaysia. Such politicians are very irresponsible people.

Clever Voter: From plastic to radioactive waste, the government should take a hard stand.

Shutting down the plant is an obvious stand. Australia mining companies are known to have left behind environmental scars in its neighbouring islands.

Australia is no different, they position themselves as having some of the best cities in the world, but they are equally guilty of committing environmental crimes elsewhere so long as these are not in their backyard.

Ocean Master: For Australia, they will keep their backyard clean and all the dirty jobs will be passed on to third world countries - in this case, Malaysia.

We have now plastic waste and radioactive waste to deal with, and of course, they have been big exporters of paedophiles to third world countries as well.

These same Australians will go onto the world stage and talk about saving the environment and about a just and equitable world for all. It is pure hypocrisy.

The only way to get them to come to the negotiation table is to issue a stop-work order to Lynas and impose a moratorium on imports of any rare earths for the purpose of processing.

Wira: This is already expected. No country will take back any toxic waste, even if they are the country of origin.

I think, Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin, you can ship the waste to the homes of Umno leaders, or any of the leaders, including the entrepreneur development minister (Mohd Redzuan Yusof), who doesn't mind the waste.

So what are you waiting for now? Demand that Lynas Malaysia show cause why their factory should not cease operations.

Rupert16: If the waste is safe as claimed by Lynas, why didn’t Australia want to accept it back? Obviously, it is not safe, isn’t it?

The government should just close the mine and make Lynas foot the bill for the clean-up and decontamination costs.

Change for the Better: Yes, stop all processing in Lynas with immediate effect, and sue the company for performance of contract, which allows us to ship the waste back to Australia.

This is the price of incompetence and corruption by the previous government.

Anonymous_f87fd98a: The raw material for Lynas’ production was shipped all the way from Western Australia to Kuantan at considerable cost.

Does anyone wonder why the Lynas factory is not located in Western Australia, but in Kuantan? Yes, now you know why.

Because Western Australia does not want the waste, which is dangerous to their precious environment and citizens’ health.

Voice of a Rakyat: Close the plant down immediately and stop talking about setting a cap for harmful waste. Any delay will cause harm to rakyat.

Another Komentar: The previous BN government obviously couldn’t be bothered to impose safe processes for waste disposal when it approved Lynas’ investment.

It’s still pathetic that the Australian government is so heartless, when it should lead by example.

Annonymous 080: At best, what should be done is to stop the import of these raw materials into Kuantan’s Lynas plant immediately.

Anonymous 1371475682: Now we see how hypocritical the Australian government is.

Well, I would advise the government to shut Lynas down immediately to send a message to the world that Malaysia is not a dumping ground for waste.

Anonymous: All the wastes of advanced countries have been insidiously dumped in "poor" countries.

Best of all, the world, especially people from advanced countries, have for decades perceived that recycling was their dignified contribution to the world.

Anonymous_1527925538: Why does Australia reject taking back the radioactive waste material?

Lynas is an Australian company, and the material originally comes from Australia, which has a much larger land mass to bury the radioactive waste materials.

After this rejection, the government should just go by the book and shut down Lynas. The health of our citizens overrides any economic consideration.

Anonymous_3e79: The waste was produced in Malaysia, so why send it to Australia? If Malaysia does not want the waste, then stop producing it.

Lynas might be an Australian company but it operates in Malaysia under Malaysian law and regulations. Since it is allowed to operate here, the waste is Malaysia’s problem.

Cyclonus: I have two comments. Firstly, thank you, BN, for making Malaysia the radioactive garbage dump of Southeast Asia.

Secondly, to Western Australia's Mines, Petroleum, Energy and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston, who said, “Generally speaking, the best place for contaminated material is where it comes from, which in this case would be in the mine void, but we are not going to take mine waste back from overseas.”

It belongs to you. Take it back.

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