Blatant open burning near Pekan shocks lawmaker
A Pahang lawmaker who took to the skies to inspect rainforest fires today found evidence of open burning at a plantation near Pekan, Pahang.
Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung, who published aerial photographs of the incident online, estimated the affected area to be about 20 acres.
A Pahang lawmaker who took to the skies to inspect rainforest fires today found evidence of open burning at a plantation near Pekan, Pahang.
Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung, who published aerial photographs of the incident online, estimated the affected area to be about 20 acres (8ha)
When contacted by Malaysiakini, he said the evidence had been handed over to the Pahang Environment Department.
Lee said his original intention was to inspect the Tasik Chini area for rainforest fires today together with a volunteer pilot.
"The condition of Tasik Chini today is quite okay. But when we returned, we saw some smoke coming from an area near Kuantan.
"We then decided to investigate. We were shocked when we found fires at three locations," he said.
He said the smell of the smoke even permeated the aircraft.
According to Lee, affected area was located at 3°33'26.0"N, 103°13'21.0"E, which Google Maps pointed to an oil palm plantation in Temai which is half-an-hour's drive east of Pekan.
A check by Malaysiakini finds that the area had been smouldering since at least as early as August.
Infrared imagery (above) from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite shows the area was covered with healthy vegetation (depicted as bright green) on Aug 19, but a subsequent image taken on Aug 29 shows burn scars in the same area.
The burnt vegetation (depicted as dark brown) steadily grew to about 180ha in size by Sept 13.
Lee, when asked if he had determined who the owner of the oil palm plantation was, said the Department of Environment was the proper authority to disclose the information.
The government has prohibited all forms of open burning except cremations and religious rituals since Sept 11, 2019. Violators can be fined up to RM500,000 and sentenced to jail for a maximum of five years.
Yesterday, Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin said that the Malaysian government was mulling a new law to punish Malaysian companies that caused haze in other countries.
Additional reporting by KOH JUN LIN.
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