The 20 sen plastic bag charge, which currently applies to most permanent business premises, will be extended to all types of business premises starting 2022, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail announced.

“By the end of 2021, the plastic bag charge will apply to all permanent business premises and, starting 2022, it will be extended to all types of business premises,” she said when launching the Love for Environment campaign organised by Ecobio Pack Sdn Bhd and non-governmental organisation, Pawana, in Subang Jaya today.

Dr Wan Azizah said the move was among the key initiatives under the Roadmap Towards Zero Single-Use Plastics 2018-2030, which includes a no-straw-by-default practice that encourages users to drink directly from a cup or a glass.

“The imposition of plastic bag charge and the no-straw-by-default practice are the government’s initiative to prevent consumers from using single-use plastics and at the same time encourage them to make more eco-friendly decisions by bringing reusable bags when shopping and drinking without using a straw,” she said.

She also commended the effort taken by the Penang government in using the revenue from the plastic bag charge for the conservation of the environment, saying that such an effort should be emulated by other states.

No bag, no straws

The government had introduced No Plastic Bag Day campaign on every Saturday since Jan 1, 2011.

Several states, such as Selangor, Penang, Malacca, Perlis, Perak, Terengganu, Kelantan and Sarawak had also followed suit.

In the Federal Territories, retailers were only allowed to provide biodegradable and compostable plastic bag and, beginning March this year, retailers had also begun charging their customers 20 sen for every piece of that kind of plastic bag.

Besides, several states had also implemented the Straws on Request campaign, namely Federal Territories (starting January 2019), Kedah and Penang (April 2019) and Selangor (July 2019).

From Jan 1 next year, plastic straws will also be banned in all the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan.

Consensus on Anwar transition

On Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement yesterday urging for the issue of power transition between Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Anwar Ibrahim to be discussed internally and agreed to based on consensus among leaders of Pakatan Harapan component parties, Dr Wan Azizah said it had already been agreed to by all Harapan component party leaders.

“Yes, we can meet and discuss, but like he (Muhyiddin) said, he had also signed (the early agreement),” she said briefly.

On the statement by public policy analyst, Lim Teck Ghee, who described Malaysia under the Harapan government as “uncontrolled disaster”, the deputy prime minister urged the analyst to use a fairer comparison.

“If the BN remained in power, the issue of 1MDB will not surface, all the other (corruption) cases may not be disclosed... analyse that too. It’s easy to criticise, but please be fair,” she said.

Dr Wan Azizah said what the Harapan government was doing is fulfilling the mandate given by the people, that is to fix all the problems left by the previous government.

- Bernama