COMMENT These days, Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar seems to appear as one grumpy old man, when he said that Selangor’s ‘No Plastic’ campaign would not succeed if the sale of plastic bags was still being allowed.

Rather than politicising the ‘No Plastic’ campaign, Noh should have played his role in promoting the good initiative, which is so far only being carried in a few states including Penang and the latest, effective from Jan 1, the state of Selangor.

What is more baffling is that Noh had seemingly not consulted his colleagues in the cabinet who were responsible in controlling the sale of plastic bags. Had he done his homework, he would have spared himself from being embarrassed.

In a simple but indirect rebuttal, Selangor state exco member Elizabeth Wong, through her policy officer, Adrian Yeo had said yesterday that the negotiation was between hypermarkets and the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry. Bingo!

So there is really no reason for Noh to even challenge the state government “to order supermarkets and other business outlets to replace the plastic bags with alternatives such as environment-friendly or biodegradable bags”.

Solve the problem, not create the need for incinerators

Go directly to Hamzah Zainudin, the minister in charge of the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, and discuss with him why Hamzah or his predecessors had allowed hypermarkets to sell the plastic bags without ever coming out with a mechanism of accountability.

As far as I know during Selangor’s local council events, the state has already instructed food vendors to comply with its green policy. Why is Noh allegedly still doing nothing about getting the local councils nationwide to implement a similar policy?

Noh, as minister in charge of the local councils, should also instruct other states to implement ‘No Plastics’ campaigns. This, including segregation of wastes, is something that had been discussed but never implemented since former housing and local government minister Ting Chew Pei’s time.

All the while, it is no action, talk only. What we have been hearing all these years is that we need a large-scale incinerator to deal with the solid wastes. With that, the country would have to fork out money to implement such projects nationwide.

After the project is implemented, then we hear that it has become another white elephant or it is no longer operating. Why all the wastages? Who is responsible for such wastages?

At the end of the day, it is the rakyat who are paying for such expensive technology, but no solution has been found. Instead of managing his own backyard, Noh’s unfounded sarcasm, yet without doing his part to save the environment, is unwelcomed.

Under Noh’s former ministry, there had been talk about raising reducing the import of beef from overseas. Some RM240 million was allocated for the project, but where are all the cows? Noh should also answer us about what happened with regard to the failed fresh prawn farming that was carried out under his care.