Press Statement

by Lim Guan Eng

(Petaling Jaya, Saturday): Indonesia must accept full responsibility for their failure to fulfill their international obligations to ASEAN and Malaysia under the ASEAN Co-operation Plan on Transboundary Pollution to prevent haze caused by the illegal burning of forests. That is why DAP insists that Indonesia pay for its mistakes with adequate compensation for the health damage, economic losses and sufferings endured by 25 million Malaysians.

ASEAN Environment Ministers had in June 1995 agreed on an ASEAN Co-operation Plan on Transboundary Pollution. The Co-operation Plan contains broad policies and strategies to deal with transboundary pollution. ASEAN Environment Ministers had agreed on a Regional Haze Action Plan (RHAP), which sets out co- operative measures needed amongst ASEAN member countries to address the problem of smoke haze in the region arising from land and forest fires.

The Regional Haze Action Plan had 3 primary objectives namely:-

1.      to prevent land and forest fires through better management policies and enforcement;

2.      to establish operational mechanisms to monitor land and forest fires; and

3.      to strengthen regional land and forest fire-fighting capability and other mitigating measures.

Failure To Comply And Develop Preventive Measures And Its National Action Plan

Amongst preventive measures taken by ASEAN countries include the need to strengthen national policies and strategies to prevent and mitigate land and forest fires.  To effect this, ASEAN countries are to develop National Plans that serves to prevent and mitigate land and forest fires.  These National Plans are supposed to be completed by March 1998 and contain the following aspects:-

1. Policies to curb activities that may lead to land and forest fires and control emissions from mobile and stationary sources, including the prohibition of open burning and the strict control of slash-and-burn practices during the dry period.
2. Strategies to curb activities that may lead to land and forest fires and control emissions from mobile and stationary sources, including the following:
   • formulation of air quality management legislation to prohibit open burning;
   • strict enforcement of laws and legislation;
   • implementation of air quality monitoring and reporting regimes, and setting up surveillance on local sources of emissions, both mobile and stationary;
   • establishment of national task force/committee to develop strategies and response plans to deal with fires and smoke haze; and
   • utilisation of information technology to provide haze-related information to relevant agencies to prevent and control spread of fire, and to enhance public awareness on the haze situation.
3. Guidelines and support services to discourage activities which can lead to land and forest fires.
4. Operating procedures for the early mobilisation of resources to prevent the spread of fires.

Clearly Indonesia’s failure to comply and develop on its National Plans as required by the RHAP, has shown it not to be a reliable partner for ASEAN solidarity. Even though Indonesia is a poor country, it has a responsibility towards preventing forest fires that causes damaging haze. If Indonesia is unable to do cope with forest fires, it has both an international treaty obligation as well as a moral and ethical duty to seek immediate help from other international countries.

Indonesia’s refusal to seek international help has caused harm to its reputation but more importantly created much distrust and anger amongst Malaysians who are faced with the yearly ritual of breathing unhealthy smoke that threatens the safety and life of us and our children. As this haze is worsening now, DAP calls on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to seek an emergency meeting of ASEAN countries to discuss ways on how to compel Indonesia to fulfill its international obligations to ASEAN to check haze and prevent it from becoming a tragic annual disaster for Malaysians.

(12/08/2006)