We have seen this tragic movie before. The grainy intelligence photos, the ominous music in news reports, the politicians with furrowed brows warning of an existential threat just over the horizon.

It was scaremongering that marched us toward the devastation of the Gulf War and the catastrophic quagmire of the Iraq War.

The “weapons of mass destruction” that never existed launched a thousand bombs and killed hundreds of thousands of people.

The lesson from these geopolitical tragedies is clear: when fear replaces fact, progress is the first casualty, and lives are the ultimate price.

This is why we must be vigilant against the same retrogressive force in our own backyard. In Malaysia, we are witnessing a similar dynamic play out, not on a battlefield, but in the debate over our industrial and economic future.

I am, of course, referring to the relentless campaign against the Lynas rare earths plant.

Critical scrutiny

Let us be clear: critical scrutiny of any industry, especially one involving radioactive materials, is not just a right but a responsibility. A healthy democracy demands that we question, verify, and hold corporations and governments accountable.

However, there is a chasm between evidence-based scepticism and outright scaremongering. The anti-Lynas movement, in its most vocal form, has leapt headlong into that chasm.

For years, we have been subjected to a campaign that prioritises emotional panic over tangible evidence.

The arguments are consistently framed in the language of absolute catastrophe, despite the plant operating under what international experts and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have repeatedly confirmed as safe parameters.

The movement criticises without offering concrete, peer-reviewed evidence of immediate harm. They demand closure not based on what the science shows, but on what they fear it might show.

This is dangerous. It is a form of intellectual and political laziness that masquerades as activism.

By branding the Lynas plant with the scarlet letter of danger, regardless of the regulatory compliance and continuous monitoring, we are doing incalculable damage to our own national interest.

We are scaring away the very high-tech, high-investment industries we claim to want. We are telling the world that Malaysia is a country where policy is dictated by panic, not prudence; where a vocal minority can veto progress based on vibes rather than verifiable data.

Merchants of panic

This brings me to the kind of leadership we so desperately need. The current political landscape is littered with those who find it easier to wield the sledgehammer of fear than to engage with the scalpel of critical thought. We must stop electing these merchants of panic.

A leader who is a scaremonger is a leader who has given up on finding solutions. They traffic in the politics of the worst-case scenario because it is an effective shortcut to power. It is far simpler to say, “This factory will poison your children” than to explain the complex interplay of industrial policy, international investment, and environmental safeguards. It is easier to stoke anxiety about the unknown than to build trust through transparency.

We need the opposite. We need leaders who are risk-takers and critical thinkers.

A critical thinker looks at the Lynas debate and asks: "What does the data say? What are the international best practices? How do we mitigate actual risks rather than hypothetical ones?"

A risk-taker understands that progress is impossible without some level of calculated exposure. They know that a zero-risk society is a zero-progress society.

They are willing to make the tough, evidence-based call to support an industry that creates thousands of jobs and secures Malaysia's place in the global supply chain, even in the face of a well-orchestrated fear campaign.

To be clear, this is not about dismissing environmental concerns. It is about demanding that those concerns be rooted in reality. It is about rejecting the politics of "what if" and embracing the politics of "what is".

Scaremongers

If we allow the scaremongers to win – if we let the ghosts of non-existent WMDs dictate our industrial policy – we doom ourselves to irrelevance. We choose a future of stagnant rivers and silent factories, all in the name of a safety that was never actually threatened.

The choice before Malaysian voters is stark. We can choose the purveyors of panic, who offer the false comfort of fear. Or we can choose the architects of progress, who offer the challenging but rewarding path of evidence, innovation, and courage.

For the sake of our economy, our standing in the world, and our future, we must choose wisely. We must choose the critical thinkers over the scaremongers.

Many are convinced that what the Madani government is now pushing for is to rid the nation of the scaremongers. This is what progressive is!

-- BERNAMA

Prof Dato Dr Ahmad Ibrahim 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 .