Saturday, March 31, 2012

An Aussie perspective on Lynas


So refreshing to see that Malaysians aren't the only ones who want to STOP LYNAS


Lynas Corporation for dummies (and Australians)

March 30th, 2012 by Ryan Albrey, Guest Contributor 

I do not need to write a ‘for dummies’ guide for Malaysians. They have made up their minds about Lynas and are now quite knowledgeable about the issues. They have learned more about rare earth and radioactive thorium than many of us will ever learn in a life time and they want Lynas out of their country.
Instead, I write this for Australians for whom media coverage of this story has been sparse. It is difficult to work out why the media have paid scant attention to this story. I would have thought that this was a story made for journalists.
This story involves our relationship with Malaysia. Considering that Malaysia is one of our closest neighbours and a country whose cooperation we vigorously strive for, I would have thought that an issue like Lynas should be big news in Australia.
Sure, this might not be a diplomatic row between political leaders. Our Prime Minister is not calling theirs ‘recalcitrant’ and theirs is not threatening trade sanctions.
And of course, this story does not involve asylum seekers.
No, this is different!
While our respective Prime Ministers get along nicely and make funny deals like swapping refugees, a whole country, 28 million Malaysians, are starting to feel anger towards Australia.
In this modern age, bilateral relationships between two Prime Ministers are not nearly as important as the relationship between a body of 23 million people and another body of 28 million.
Australians are becoming quietly hated by Malaysians and nobody thought to tell Australians of this?
This story also involves the crucial ingredients to some of the most important high tech inventions that we have come to rely on in the 21st century. If Lynas fail to get their product to markets, the price of iPhones, iPads, hybrid cars and wind turbines will increase across the globe.
This story involves a three way trade battle between Australia, Malaysia and China.
Most importantly, this story may involve a change of government in Malaysia– for the first time in 50 years.
Continue reading HERE

1 comment:

masterymistery said...

As an Australian I do find it rather strange that the whole Lynas story has been unfolding / unfolded without a word being mentioned in the Australian media.

Another aspect that has damaged relations between Malysia and Australia was the so-called "Malaysia solution" dreamed up by the current Government as a "solution" to the "problem" of refugees / asylum seekers (otherwise referred to as "boat people")

The "solution" was to "dump" these unwanted people in Malysia: offering large sums of money and other goodies to the Malaysian government, to take the asylum seekers and house them in camps in Malaysia, camps built with Australian money.

Happily, The High Court in Australia judged the "Malaysian solution" to be illegal for reasons I won't go into here, and the decision meant that the Government had to find another "solution" to the "problem" of getting rid of large numbers of desperate people.

masterymistery at
cosmic rapture

STOP LYNAS

STOP LYNAS