PM: Asean must review existing pollution mechanisms, probe thoroughly
PUTRAJAYA: Asean needs to review the existing mechanisms in dealing with transboundary haze to avoid adverse impacts on the people’s health, says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
He said Asean ministers need to pay serious attention to the matter as the haze can have a direct impact on the health and lives of the people.
“There is room for improvement. I think the Asean ministers must seriously look at it, because this is affecting lives, particularly of children and babies.
“And from what we have seen in Serian, it is really concerning,” he said.
Anwar, who is also the Finance Minister, said this to the media after attending a Meeting with staff members of the Plantations and Commodities Ministry here yesterday, Bernama reported.
Air quality in Serian was reported to have returned to hazardous levels when the monitoring station at the district police headquarters in the area recorded an air pollutant index (API) reading of 302 yesterday morning.
Last Friday, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, declared a haze emergency in the entire Serian division following air pollution that was hazardous to public health.
The declaration was lifted yesterday.
Anwar stressed that open burning in Indonesia needs to be thoroughly investigated, including identifying the real cause of the fires before any action or accusations are made against any party.
He said Malaysia would not intervene or protect any companies if investigations prove they are responsible for open burning or other violations of the law in neighbouring countries.
“If there are Malaysian companies that are affected (involved), we will give Indonesia space to take action.
“We will certainly respect the actions there and we will not defend them,” he said when asked if there are Malaysian companies operating in the republic that have committed wrongdoings that eventually contributed to the haze.
