Don’t let the politics of fear rob Malaysia of its REE future
By Professor Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim
There is a curious silence in the corridors of power and the court of public opinion regarding the ghosts of our industrial past. As we stand on the cusp of a new rare earths boom, a boom that could redefine Malaysia’s economic trajectory, we are besieged by a chorus of concern. We hear dire warnings of radiation, of environmental catastrophe, and of existential risk. But let us take a moment to look back. Look back at the mountains of sand that built modern Malaysia: the amang.
For decades, Malaysia was a titan of tin production. Our rivers were dredged, our lands were turned, and the world came to us for its raw materials. In the process, we created a byproduct—amang, the heavy mineral concentrates left behind after the tin is extracted. We all knew, or at least the miners and the scientists of the day knew, that this amang carried trace elements of radioactivity. It is rich in thorium, a naturally occurring radioactive element.
Yet, the tin industry flourished. We did not have the paralyzing fear of radiation scaremongers halting production. We did not have activists chaining themselves to dredges because of the elevated background radiation in the tailings. Why? Because we understood context. The risk was managed, not mythologized. The industry prospered, and with it, states like Perak and Selangor became economic powerhouses. The prosperity of those tin-rich states is etched into the very foundation of modern Malaysia.
Now, we face a new frontier: rare earths. The world is clamoring for them. They are the invisible heartbeat of electric vehicles, smartphones, and advanced defense systems. And here we sit, on potentially significant deposits. It is a second chance at industrial glory. But immediately, the scaremongers emerge. We hear the same words—radiation, thorium, danger—but this time they are amplified by a global network of non-governmental organizations and a sensationalist media. We must ask ourselves a hard question: Why?
Is it genuine concern for the environment, or is it a convenient narrative to ensure that the value chain stops at our shores? Is it possible that certain global powers, who would prefer to keep the lucrative downstream processing of rare earths within their own borders, are happy to see Malaysia hamstrung by fear? If we allow “fake scientists” and politically motivated activists to stall this industry before it even begins, we are not just protecting the environment; we are surrendering our economic sovereignty.
Of course, there are risks. This is not in dispute. Mining and mineral processing are heavy industries. They carry inherent dangers, from chemical spills to the management of low-level radioactive materials like thorium. But to suggest that these risks are insurmountable is to ignore our own history. We managed the byproducts of tin mining for a century. We built cities on that foundation. The problem was never the presence of risk, but the absence of regulation in the early days.
The trick, the wisdom we must now possess, is to have the right system in place. We are not the developing nation of the 1960s. We are a sophisticated economy with access to world-class technology and regulatory frameworks. We can implement strict environmental protocols, enforce rigorous health and safety standards, and ensure that any processing is done with transparency and accountability. We have the opportunity to leapfrog the old, dirty methods and become a global leader in responsible rare earths processing. We can manage the thorium byproduct, perhaps even find a use for it in future clean energy applications, instead of simply discarding it.
But we cannot do this if we are paralyzed by fear. We cannot do this if we allow every unsubstantiated claim to halt progress. We must look at the facts, weigh the manageable risks against the immense rewards—thousands of high-skilled jobs, technology transfer, and a strategic position in a global supply chain. Let us not be the generation that, haunted by the ghosts of risks past, squandered the prosperity of the future. Let us look at the amang hills of our history and remember: we have done this before. We can do it again, only this time, safer, smarter, and stronger.
The author is affiliated with the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy Studies at UCSI University and is an Adjunct Professor at the Ungku Aziz Centre for Development Studies, Universiti Malaya. He can be reached at ahmadibrahim@ucsiuniversity.edu.my.