MP SPEAKS | Govt should enact Transboundary Haze Act

MP SPEAKS | It is haze “season” again. In fact, haze has been an almost yearly affair for Asean countries since the 1980s.

It usually happens during the southwest monsoon season between June and September. Its severity depends on how dry and hot the weather is during that particular year and how peat fires are controlled during the season.

In some years, transboundary haze in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei has seriously impacted the environment, economy, public health and well-being of the people.

Haze incidents can cause the country to lose more than RM 1 billion, including through the impact on tourism and businesses, cost of fire-fighting and cloud seeding operations, cancellation of flight schedules and sporting events, cost of public health, destruction of biodiversity and so on.

I have been an advocate that Malaysia should introduce a Transboundary Haze Act (THA) since 2019.

This Act will enable the government to take action against Malaysian individuals or companies that cause haze in Malaysia, regardless of where the burning occurred.

Currently, there are no specific local laws governing this. Singapore, on the other hand, passed such a law in 2014.

After the haze crisis in 2019, the then-Energy, Science, Technology and Climate Change (Mestecc) commissioned the Academy of Sciences Malaysia to conduct a study into the legal framework requirements to tackle cross-border pollution and advise the government whether such a law could be effective.

On Feb 12, 2020, the Pakatan Harapan cabinet discussed the results of this study and agreed in principle to introduce the law.

Nevertheless, the progress was stalled by the subsequent governments after the Sheraton Move. I asked the positions of both Perikatan Nasional government and the current unity government in Parliament regarding the tabling of THA, both gave a negative answer.

Some may argue that THA is just a cosmetic move because the evidence of open burning has to be collected in Indonesia.

Furthermore, extra-territorial prosecution would be very challenging and require collaboration with Indonesian authorities, which may not be forthcoming. However, nay-sayers did not realise that THA can also incorporate preventive clauses such as:

• To compel Malaysian companies at risk of causing haze in Malaysia from abroad to make available satellite data for all their premises, such as plantations (to make them accountable for the hotspots detected via satellite).

• To require companies to declare new land purchases in high-risk areas such as oil palm plantations in Indonesia and declare how the land was cleared before purchase (to prevent the locals from using slash-and-burn methods to clear the land before selling it to big companies).

Greater transparency will serve as a deterrent against Malaysian plantation companies misbehaving in other countries.

In addition, it would also help to counter the negative image painted by developed countries that oil palm plantations are all the same and are the main cause of forest burning in the region (or the loss of orangutan habitats as shown in advertisements).

In short, higher transparency will help us to differentiate the white sheep from the black sheep, figuratively speaking.

With that, I call upon the government to reconsider the current position and work on introducing THA in Malaysia.

YEO BEE YIN is Puchong MP and former environment minister.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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