Give tax incentives to support sustainable energy exercise – social activist

KUALA LUMPUR: The government should consider giving tax incentives to all citizens, commerce and industries who support sustainable energy exercise, said social activist Datuk Seri Ang Lai Soon.

He said the use of fossil fuel and coal should be gradually replaced by sustainable energy including renewal energy such as hydroelectricity, wind energy, solar energy and tidal energy.

He noted that such initiative would come in handy in a tropical country such as Malaysia where sunshine was in abundance every day of the year, there were mighty rivers and cascading streams, waterfalls everywhere and there was never any shortage of wind at any time.

“We could, therefore, consider seriously putting up solar panels for our homes, buildings and factories, the government could set up wind turbines and harness the rivers and the streams including making good use of the tidal waves in coastal areas,” he said in a New Year Message via a statement, last night.

Ang also suggested that the incentives should include waiving sales tax for all Electric and Hybrid vehicles and also import duty for the imported ones.

“Public transport, buses and lorries to go green as well with tax incentives. These are examples of enabling environments that are necessary to create a sustainable transformation,” he said.

Ang who is also the President of the the long-running Sarawak Cheshire Home, a charity home opened since 1969, called upon the government to invest in making the teaching of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) compulsory in all schools and institutions of learning nationwide.

He said according to surveys everywhere, cardiac arrest or heart attack is one of the top killers in developing and developed countries, noting that there were many instances of people who had cardiac arrest but there was nobody nearby to render help using CPR, the only known method yesterday.

“Not everybody knows CPR unless the person is a first aider, a nurse, a doctor, or somebody in a medical profession or just being trained in CPR alone,” he said expressing his confidence that the government would give its support to his proposal so that more precious lives can be saved. – Bernama