In recounting her brief stint as energy, science, technology, environment and climate change minister in her soon-to-be-released book, Yeo Bee Yin laments that Lynas’ permanent disposal facility (PDF) will stand as a “national monument of shame”.

“First, in the name of economic development, we would be giving 12 years of tax exemption to a foreign company that produces a huge amount of waste to be dumped permanently in Malaysia.

“Secondly, we would be letting this company off the hook for a commitment made in black and white. This would send a message that a developing country’s government can be bullied by a company from the developed world and had no choice but to put up with it in the name of economic development.

“This is the very reason why, from the very beginning, I pushed - unsuccessfully - for the waste to be shipped out of the country,” she wrote in her upcoming book ‘Unfinished Business’.

Yeo pointed to the...