DAP calls for new laws to be enacted by the new Malaysian Parliament by amending the Environmental Quality Act to prevent any companies from contributing to the hazardous and severe haze afflicting Singapore and Malaysia that will have harmful health consequences to the affected population. So hazardous is the haze that 200 schools in Muar, Batu Pahat and Pasir Gudang had to be shut down.
The people are expecting some sort of direct action from our new parliamentarians. I will be directing Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching to present such proposals through an urgent motion in Parliament next week.
Such proposed laws must be the immediate task of the new group of MPs which will allow Malaysia to take action against any Malaysian companies AND foreign companies operating in Malaysia that contributed or was responsible or played a par directly or indirectly in the trans-boundary fires in Indonesia that caused pollution to harmful levels, adverse health effects and economic losses across the region.
This follows comments from Senior Indonesian Minister Agung Laksono that big foreign palm oil investors, including Malaysian companies, may be responsible for deliberately burning the forest to open up more oil palm plantations. At the same time, Indonesia should prosecute those responsible for the fires, including any Malaysian plantation companies, companies guilty of setting open fires should be punished with imprisonment, substantial fines and made liable for the damage caused.
Unfortunately, Indonesia is the only ASEAN member not to have ratified a 2002 Southeast Asian Transboundary Haze Agreement (SEATHA) that will allow the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to cooperate to prevent and extinguish forest fires. 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.
The annual event has repeated for more than 20 years and the problem has not yet been solved. Malaysia has suffered two severe hazes so far, one in 1997 and another in 2005. In September 1997, as the air pollution index (API) in Sarawak exceeded 600, the government was forced to declare a state of emergency, only pharmacies, clinics, shops and necessity service industries were allowed to open for business, causing economic losses of almost $9 billion in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia has suffered enough in terms of health problems and economic losses. The BN Federal government must press for the immediate ratification of the 2002 SEATHA in Asean summits to have a joint effort to resolve this problem once and for all. Anything less will be meaningless and our children can only expect to suffer from the same hazardous haze.
The Federal government, Johor and Melaka state governments should also carry out immediate cloud seeding in the worse affected states of Melaka and Johor to bring rain as one of the control measures to reduce the worsening haze. DAP urge the public to stay indoors where possible and avoid heavy outdoor activities. The Department of Environment should enforce the ban on open burning in this critical period.