AMONG Malaysians who are against rare earth Lynas, it is unclear how many actually care how radioactive Lynas’ rare earth waste is, how big a risk it is, and how Lynas is dealing with it.
How many just want the plant shut down so the Pakatan Harapan government can prove it is not reneging on yet another election promise?
Information is scarce. Trust is in huge deficit. Invisible hands and power bases are at play. But so are misinformation, inuendo and hyperbole.
Macaranga aims to look at the facts and science behind the Lynas issue and where people’s concerns should lie.
Realising the radioactive waste was not going to be shipped out, we focussed on how and where it was going to be stored, and who was managing it and providing oversight.
Writer YH Law spent months seeking information and expert opinions – including information from Lynas – while poring through standards and laws.
Only one interviewee agreed to be quoted. We waited until Lynas finally replied to our emails so we could add their response to our piece. We waited because we wanted Lynas to answer to media instead of its usual press statement approach.