Ministers' view on Lynas a 'healthy debate', says Wan Azizah

KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): The differing views between Cabinet ministers on whether to compel Lynas Corp Ltd to ship its toxic waste out of Malaysia is a 'healthy debate' to determine what is best for the country, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pictured).

Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby today, Dr Wan Azizah dismissed claims that Cabinet ministers were in discord over the Lynas toxic waste issue, but said they expressed their views from different aspects.

"Tak ada (no dispute), this is because when we look at the issue on Lynas, there are two ways to look at it, one is from the economic point of view, the Entrepreneur Development Minister (Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof) wants to improve entrepreneurship, while the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (Yeo Bee Yin) is looking at it from an environmental view point, as well as the Kim Kim River pollution, all those are taken into account," she said.

"So in (the) Lynas issue, we will consider the investment and economic empowerment aspect, while on the other side, we don't want pollution, which means they (Lynas) have got to handle the waste they produce by themselves. So this is a healthy debate between ministers to find out how best we can handle this issue," she added.

Asked whether Lynas issue falls under Mohd Redzuan's portfolio, Dr Wan Azizah said the pollution issue comes under Yeo, while the investment aspects comes under Mohd Redzuan, instead of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) or Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

On whether the Cabinet has made up its mind to allow Malaysia to house Lynas' toxic waste, Dr Wan Azizah merely cited what Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has said before: Cabinet will meet and consider all aspects of Lynas before making any decision. — theedgemarkets.com

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