KUALA LUMPUR: The Environment Department took 2,132 enforcement actions over open burning in less than two months, including issuing 27 compounds and filing three court cases, as haze continues to affect Sarawak, says Datuk Arthur Joseph Kurup.
The Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister said the department received 1,447 open burning complaints from Aug 3 to Sept 29, and its follow-up actions also included 41 directive notices.
Fourteen large fires in Sarawak and Johor had been fully put out, he said.
Arthur said the National Open Burning Action Plan had been in force since Feb 15.
Seven cloud seeding operations were carried out nationwide from Aug 30 to Oct 1, including in Sarawak from Sept 3 to 7.
He said this in a joint reply to Datuk Yusuf Abd Wahab (Tanjong Manis), Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (Balik Pulau) and Oscar Ling Chai Yew (Sibu) during Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Oct 6).
Arthur said Indonesia accepted Malaysia's offer of firefighting help, including aerial water bombing and amphibious aircraft, on Sept 18 when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi met President Prabowo Subianto.
Both countries are now coordinating the deployment through the Foreign Ministry, he said.
Answering a supplementary question, Arthur said Malaysia would chair and host the next meeting of the sub-regional ministerial steering committee on transboundary haze next year.
He said Malaysia would use the platform to strengthen shared responsibility among Asean member states in tackling the haze.
"Transboundary haze must be tackled through collective action and closer regional cooperation, not by pointing fingers or blaming anyone.
"What matters more is that every member state carries out its own responsibilities," he said.
He said Malaysia had also proposed, at the committee's meeting in Bali in July, greater use of scientific data in Asean's haze policies and a fund to give regional fire prevention a steadier source of money.
Both proposals are being studied by the Asean Secretariat and will be discussed at a meeting of parties to the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in Vietnam in December.
