KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): The differing views between two Ministers on whether to compel Lynas Corp Ltd to ship its toxic wastes 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.

Speaking to reporters at Parliament lobby today, Dr Wan Azizah dismissed claims that the Ministers — namely Entrepreneur Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Redzan Md Yusof and Energy, Science, Technology Environment and Climate Change Yeo Bee Yin — were in discord over the issue of the radioactive wastes produced by Lynas Corp Ltd’s Lynas Advanced Material Plant in Gebeng, Pahang.

Instead, she downplayed the episode by saying the two Ministers were only looking at the issue and expressing their views from different aspects.

"Tak ada (There’s 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 wants to improve entrepreneurship, while the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change is looking at it from an environmental view point, as well as (following) the Kim Kim River pollution, all those are being 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 wastes they produce by themselves. So this is a healthy debate between Ministers to find out how best we can handle this issue," she added.

When asked whether the 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.

She did not, however, elaborate how the investment from the Australian rare earth miner falls under Entrepreneur Development instead of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) or Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida).

As to whether the Cabinet has made up its mind to allow Malaysia to house Lynas' radioactive wastes, Dr Wan Azizah merely repeated what Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said on Tuesday, which is that the Cabinet will meet and consider all aspects of Lynas before making any decisions.

Mohd Redzuan blasted Yeo on Monday for compelling Lynas to ship out its radioactive wastes as a pre-condition for the renewal of the rare earth miner’s temporary storage licence, saying Yeo “has to take responsibility” for her decision, and that Lynas’ investment in Malaysia “is too big to ignore”. Yeo issued her Ministry’s decision on the matter last December.

The Alor Gajah Member of Parliament (MP) was later slammed on the same day for having “no locus standi” to comment on the matter by Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh, who said the matter does not fall under his Ministry’s purview.

On Sunday, Fuziah, who is also Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, remarked that many in the Government had fallen for Lynas’ “low-level radiation narrative” for the wastes it produces at the Gebeng plant in Kuantan.