I read with some feeling of “disappointment” when Anti-Lynas campaigner Wong Tack first said that if he loses his cause to close down the Lamp plant, and of changing the politicians at the local governance end of the Gebeng site geography and constituency, that he would burn down the Lynas plant.

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I am very glad that he has now publicly apologised for that statement. Learning to apologise is a umbling experience for humans; always. Such intents followed by actions would have been defined as criminal behaviour. NGOs should never have any criminal-type intent; whether for issues within Malaysia or for those outside the nation-state.

My amusement, however, is even greater with all of us who are above 60 year olds who have lived our entire life but have not done too much for the Green Agenda, but who also have overnight become sudden advocates of a Green Mandate. With no names mentioned let me state the true story of two of them.

When I was with the International Trade and Industry Ministry, I had the privilege of attending an Environmental Global Consultation on the reduction in the use of CFC (or Cloro-fluoro-carbons). As it would be, the subject matter was under the Science, Technology and the Environment Ministry and therefore the ministry’s representative should have led the team of Malaysian officials.

Given that the ministry’s representative was a junior legal adviser, the then-leadership of the Environment Ministry requested me to consider leading the team even though I was an International Trade and Industry Ministry representative at the consultation. I agreed.

When my senior leaders found out, I was ‘chewed up’ because, as they believed then: “My mandate is only to promote trade and industry matters, and not to undertake anything to reduce he promotion and propagation of trade and industry development”.

By implication, this meant that I really could not promote the cause of CFC reduction, even if and even though the International Trade and Industry Ministry was the cabinet-sanctioned sole agency for systematic reduction of the use of CFC in Malaysia then.

Lynas’s 12-year pioneer status

It is no wonder then that the International Trade and Industry Ministry has now approved the Lynas plant under a 12-year pioneer status incentive. In an earlier column , I had argued and questioned the rationale of this “pro-trade or investment decision” in the light of the obvious negative impact and implications for the neighbourhood for the plan within the Gebeng community.

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And yet, now it appears that even the cabinet committee chaired by the science, technology and environment minister did not find this plan “too dangerous for the local community”. Bukit Merah appears to have been forgotten.

In The Star of Saturday Feb 9 and the day of the Chinese family dinners, another well-know alaysian economist of very reputable standing argues that he is disappointed with the failure of io plus 20 agenda. But, my question to him, and my former bosses and the current leadership of he International Trade and Industry Ministry, and to all those of us above 60 years old is, “what really were the original Rio commitments?”

Did we even know about the original Green Conference at Helsinki in 1982? Did we know that it was there that the Green Movement originally started and what were their real intents and practical concerns then? Did we support Rio minus 10 before we can become experts on Rio plus 20?

The Green Philosophy

The best document to understand and appreciate the Green Philosophy is to read the little book riginally published in Malaysia called, Man and Nature: The Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man by SH Nasr. And for those who do not know, the book was the based on a series of lectures delivered at the Chicago Lectures by SH Nasr in 1969. He was also one of the keynote speakers at both the Helsinki and the original Rio Conferences.

Becoming a Green Philosopher is not just wearing green T-Shirts at a golf game, or trying to paint the air green as some conservative Muslim politicians are prone to try to do. Being Green is a way of life, which constantly and consistently seeks to always be concerned about waste in any form and focused on conservation in all forms. The key and paradigmatic concern is sustainability in whatever project or effort one is undertaking or doing.

Therefore, even when driving a car (I am not yet advocating us becoming like the communities who drive horse carts as an option) which brand of petroleum one uses can define a green philosophy? Is such merely a question of car performance, or the cost of fuel? Why not study the underlying agenda of each of the petroleum companies, and whether they have a sustainable view of life in their industrial and production efforts? Is that not what is called the Green Products?

Or, even before that, when you consider the car you buy, do you consider only size and performance or good looks of the vehicle? Why not select Green Cars that reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, or better still one which a battery driven but not geared for speed or elegance but for simple but effective sustainable transportation?

Or, why not follow the good example of our Langkawi Prize winner, Ir Gurmit Singh, who has chosen not to drive, as long has he has a choice. I know many others who follow this philosophy, too.

Becoming Green in outlook and life

Advocating the forcible closure of the Lynas plant cannot become our project focused agenda. We have to develop an enduring view of life and continuous living. Therefore my advice to the friend in the Anti-Lynas campaign is that they now form a Green Party and seek to further advocate their sustainable Green Agenda.

I know that there is already another green colour party but theirs is a green religious agenda without necessarily becoming a green philosophical agenda. Both can become one, if you follow Nasr’s logic in his book.

We need the likes of a Green Party, a Socialist Party, a Democratic Party and even a Conservative Party to make Malaysia beautiful and green all over again. But becoming green or beginning to think green is not with the end in sight; as with project of an engineering vision.

Thinking and acting green is to emplace the ‘Other’ as more important than self; and allowing the interests of the other to be served before your very own? It is tough and sometimes not humanly sustainable; just ask Gurmit.

Within such a Green Philosophy of Life, the ultimate purpose of life may not be successful but rather one is always called to be faithful. In fact, in a parable that Jesus taught about good stewardship he concluded the storyline with the comments of the master to the servant: Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Therefore all our “good works” need to be good at every stage; at the level of intentions, during the process, and also at the end of the process. If anywhere along the way it turns sour, we still have the ability to say, I tried my best but that was not still good enough. The rest one must let go to the Almighty. May God bless all Malaysians within such a worldview.