A civil rights group has issued a letter of demand to compel Putrajaya to reveal the identities of Malaysian-owned firms said to be responsible for the haze that has hit the country the past week.

NONE Memacu Arus Perjuangan (MAP) said that if Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel does not heed its notice, he would be taken to court for negligence and breach of trust.

"Under the constitution, the government is obligated to protect the citizens", MAP's lawyer Patrick Dass said today.

"By not protecting citizens against the haze they have breached that trust."

According to MAP, the notice was served on Palanivel ( above ) at 4pm today. The minister has seven days to reply.

Among others, the notice urges Palanivel to reveal the steps Putrajaya would take against Malaysian companies causing the haze and whether these companies were also to blame for similar incidents in the past.

MAP is also demanding that the government reveals the number of people admitted to hospitals for haze-related respiratory illnesses and address the lack of N95 respiratory masks in the country.

MAP began its action after news reports revealed that Indonesia had identified eight Malaysian-linked companies responsible for the ongoing haze crisis, which was the result of crop burning in neighbouring Sumatra.

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