Stop local companies’ green crimes
THE Malaysian government has announced that it may consider enacting a law that allows action to be taken against Malaysian companies operating overseas that are found guilty of contributing to the haze (Sept 18; online at bit.ly/star_ haze).
This can be a step in the right direction to stop this annual manmade calamity. Those who are responsible for causing this health, environmental and economic crisis should be held accountable and face the full force of the law.
The Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution is a legally binding environmental agreement signed in 2002 to reduce haze pollution mainly through monitoring and prevention activities. It was only ratified by Indonesia in 2014 and is deplorably ambiguous and lacking enforcement mechanisms for dispute resolution.
Politicians with ties to major economic players and Asean states acting in self-interest have made the treaty a non-starter.
Sporadic cooperation and efforts by all affected countries, such as sharing satellite data on hotspots and sending over fire personnel and planes to help combat the fires, were made in previous years but are sadly absent today.
Allegations that Malaysian companies started the fires are not the sensational revelation that seem to take many by surprise today. These allegations have been bandied around for many years. The government back then also talked about prosecuting Malaysian companies found guilty of causing the haze with open burning on their plantations. As we can see today, it was mainly talk and vanished soon after the haze disappeared.
The haze in 1997 caused Malaysia a 0.3% loss in GDP. The cost of haze-related illness vaulted from US$5mil in 1997 to an astonishing high of US$98mil (RM411mil) in 2015. The environmental impact, felt not only in Malaysia but globally, is the rise in greenhouse gases which will quicken the pace of irreversible climate change.
Based on these figures, surely what we gain from taxing such companies is minuscule compared with what we lose in health, finances and the environment when the haze hits.
The people, environment and economy have suffered for 28 years, and it is high time to put a stop to it.
We may not be able to fully stop the haze in our neighbour but we must at least stop Malaysian companies from committing criminal environment acts over there which have very dire consequences back here.