Apparently, despite objections by residents and NGOs, the Australian company that has proposed to set up a rare earth factory in Malaysia is still pressing ahead with this project.

The government has given the go ahead, despite the recent Fukushima incident where even radiation experts of the most advanced countries are at a loss to contain the nuclear leak of the damaged plant.

Granted that radiation from a rare earth factory is much lower than that of a nuclear plant, it is still something that should not be taken lightly.

The simple question is: if there is no risk at all to set up a rare earth company, why didn’t the company set this up in Western Australia, near to its source of extraction? It would have saved  millions in shipping cost.

The fact that it has not obtained approval by the authority to set up such a plant in Western Australia (that has a vast area of unpopulated land), and it has to set up a plant thousands of miles away from its source of extraction speaks plenty for itself.

If Western Australia’s authorities are concerned about radiation risk, why shouldn’t we be too?

If the safety features of the plant cannot ensure the issuing of a license to operate in Australia, why are we giving a license? Is our standard of safety lower than that of Australia?

Are we so hard up on foreign investment that we are willing to risk the health of our people? Isn’t that contrary to the slogan ‘People first’?

Is the life of a Malaysian less precious than that of a resident of a developed nation?