SNAPSHOT | Serian's air quality worsens; green activists protest at Indonesian embassy over forest fires

KINI SNAPSHOT | What’s going on in the news today, with updates at 9am, 2pm, 6pm, and 9pm.

Latest:

No more MACC orange jumpsuit for those on remand; emergency declared in Serian over haze

2pm

Haze

• The Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in Serian, Sarawak, has exceeded 500 as of 8am today, crossing the threshold for an emergency to be declared in the area.

  While details of the emergency have yet to be announced, Sarawak Deputy Premier Amar Douglas Uggah Embas previously said it would entail closing all offices - as well as the public and private sectors - and only essential services will be allowed to operate.

  He said the matter will then be referred to the National Disaster Management Agency in Kuala Lumpur for further action.

  API readings are updated hourly based on an average of measurements taken in the preceding 24 hours, with the reading in Serian reaching 519 as of 1pm due to transboundary haze from wildfires in Kalimantan.

  Readings above 300 are classified as “hazardous”.

• About 20 activists from several environmental groups held a demonstration outside the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur, urging the Indonesian government to, among others, publicly disclose the names of Malaysian-owned entities involved in forest fires and open burning in the region, Free Malaysia Today reported.

  

  “Transparency is required so responsible companies can clear their names and non-compliant ones can be held accountable,” said Greenpeace Malaysia representative Heng Kiah Chun.

  The demonstration was held in response to remarks by Indonesian lawmaker Marwan Dasopang, who urged Malaysia and Singapore to do more to prevent fires in Kalimantan as companies from both countries operate palm oil plantations there.

Politics

• Pasir Gudang MP Hassan Abdul Karim has said that the Federal Constitution does not allow any cabinet minister to openly pressure a prime minister into calling for an early general election.

  Citing Articles 40(1) and 40(2)(b) of the Constitution, he said it was the prime minister’s power to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament to make way for the general election.

  “A minister in the cabinet, even if he is the president of a major party in the coalition government at the federal level and holds the rank of deputy prime minister, must realise that he has no right under the Constitution to openly urge the prime minister to comply with his wishes so that GE16 is held immediately,” the PKR lawmaker said in a statement today.

  

READ MORE: Zahid says BN open to earlier GE16, but ready to serve full term

E-Invoice

• Former economy minister Rafizi Ramli has criticised the government’s use of e-Invoicing, saying that it has been ineffective in curbing illegal businesses and organised crime.

  In a statement today, he pointed to the rise of online gambling and scams, which he said should be handled via police enforcement.

  

  “There is no country in the world that fights organised crime using invoices,” he said.

  The e-Invoice system, on the other hand, burdens small businesses that are innocent of any wrongdoing, he added.

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