Last year, not only Pakatan Harapan (PH) ruled Selangor has banned the use of plastic bags and polystyrene and to make shoppers pay 20 cents for each plastic bag, the similar ban was also implemented by Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya since January last year.
Johor, a BN ruled state, too adopted such policy starting 1 Jan this year. A few other BN governed states were reported to have imposed the ban on plastic bags and polystyrene packaging. As a matter of fact, the “No Plastic Bag” policy was first enforced in Penang, a PH ruled state, since 1 Jan 2011.
It is therefore a nation shocking news when Selangor BN information chief Dr Satim Diman announced yesterday that it is part of the BN manifesto to bring back free plastic bags for all shoppers should BN recapture Selangor in the coming 14th general election.
Preposterous as it may sound, why does BN have to wait for the general election? The BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan, who is also the minister of Federal Territories, can materialize the BN manifesto now by lifting the ban on plastic bags and polystyrene packaging in Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. Perhaps he can promote the three federal cities to the world as ‘the cities of plastic’ to attract shoppers who love free plastic bags.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also the BN chairman, can also compel his recently relaunched 1Malaysia People’s Grocery Stores (KR1M 2.0) to start distributing free plastic bags to shoppers at the 51 KR1M stores nationwide with immediate effect.
It is already a global effort to reduce the use of plastic bags in novel bid to fight environmental hazards. Hence, it is the height of idiocy when BN presented “Free Plastic Bags” as part of its election manifesto. Najib must explain and justify this unfathomable idea.