I refer to the letter entitled ‘ Thorium-232 is safe if you don’t eat or inhale it ’ by Dr Looi Hoong Wah and wish to note that the writer has over-simplified the whole issue of  Lynas rare earth refinery plant.

By looking at a few isolated issues and relying on assurances given by International Atomic Energy Aency (IAEA)  experts, the writer has attempted to convince the local population that the Lynas plant is a non-issue.

In the eyes of  Looi, the local residents of  Kuantan have been reacting irrationally due to politicisation and misinformation. Words and opinions of the Lynas company, the IAEA experts, the menteri besar of Pahang, International Trade and Industry Ministry and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry were all in order and should be trusted in totality.

In fact, going by the words of IAEA experts, the plant would be so safe that it is entirely okay to construct another one right at the centre of Kuantan town.

All indications point to the fact that the government is not going to  back down on the Lynas plant, no matter how much resistance it would encounter along the way.

Since it is so good and so safe and can generate so much fortune and wealth for the country and people, Looi should suggest that more rare earth refinery plants be built in other parts of the country, instead of blaming the people of Kuantan for their irrational behaviour.  

With the same sets of incentives granted - cheap land, 12 years’ tax holiday, full governmental support and perhaps many other hidden incentives not made known to the public, there are lots of rare earth companies willing to put their bets here.

In fact, the whole world is competing for rare earth resources and there should not be any problem of over-supply if we start turning this country into a rare earth power house right now.  

According to its own manifestation, Lynas could generate about RM8 billion worth of rare earth products by the year 2013. By simple calculations,  it will be generating about RM22 million a day, non-stop.

If this so good and so sound economically, why build only one plant in Kuantan alone? What about other places? This particular god of fortune should also engage people in other parts of the country. As Malaysians, they have equal rights to enjoy the windfall brought by the rare earth industry.

After all, the popular ongoing theme plays on economic transformation, entry-point projects, high income country, NKRA, KPI so on and so forth, which are nothing more than saying that the country and its people are going to get rich sooner than later.

Since we have identified an outstanding industry in terms of income generation and subsequent wealth creation, why not focus solidly on this sector, so that we need not wait too long to become rich and wealthy people.

Also, with hindsight, it is not necessary to waste away that few million ringgit in consultancy fees to engage McKinsey to write out the roadmap of economic transformation programmes (ETP). The answer to economic transformation and high-income country are already properly documented by Lynas project paper, long before ETP came into the picture.

What we need to do is very simple - to get the project blueprint of Lynas and invite world-wide tenders for several more rare earth refineries to be built all over the country, like the way we mobilised the electronics industries some time back.

However, before we start jumping at the rare earth bandwagon, let us be loud and clear that this is a capitalist society. Nobody and no country would be willing to share profits with others unless it is absolutely necessary to do so. The so-called smart partnership, win-win situation is just a bluff term coined by management experts.

If rare earth refineries are absolutely risk-free and hazardless, Lynas and the Australian government would have gone all out to mine rare earth globally and transport it back to their homeland, to be refined and sold at maximum profits.

Are we so gullible and simple minded to believe that capitalist-minded corporate people would impose self-restraint when given a chance to maximise profits?