KUALA LUMPUR: Two NGOs staged a protest outside the Indonesian Embassy here on the haze situation, expressing solidarity with the affected communities and concern over the loss of wildlife.
Greenpeace Malaysia and Himpunan Advocacy Rakyat Malaysia (Haram) also handed a memorandum urging the Indonesian government to make public critical information on fire locations, investigation findings and concession ownership.
“This protest is not about blaming Indonesia for the haze. We are here because the Indonesian government holds information that could help us understand who is responsible.
“We are asking them to publicly disclose that evidence,” Greenpeace Malaysia campaign lead Heng Kiah Chun said in a statement yesterday.
If Malaysian companies were implicated, the organisation will demand that the Malaysian government holds them accountable.
“The haze does not stop at Indonesia’s borders, and neither should accountability,” he said.
Haram spokesperson Brendon Gan said there were loopholes in the system which enabled large-scale plantations to burn land with no legal repercussions.
“This is not a climate problem, it is an enforcement and political problem,” he added.
In their memorandum, both organisations called on the Indonesian government to formally disclose concession maps, hotspots and fire investigation data, and other evidence in its possession identifying Malaysian-linked companies associated with fires and haze in Indonesia.
Greenpeace Malaysia and Haram also urged the Malaysian government to act on credible evidence shared by Indonesia to ensure Malaysian companies did not evade accountability for environmental harm.
It was reported that Indonesian authorities were investigating 19 companies linked to wildfires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
Reports stated that Indonesia identified fires covering a total of 11,047ha across seven provinces in concessions managed by the 19 companies.
