PETALING JAYA: Malaysia must strengthen enforcement, investigate corporate links to forest fires and push for tougher regional agreements to tackle the recurring transboundary haze, says Greenpeace Malaysia.
Its interim country representative Heng Kiah Chun said Malaysia’s diplomatic engagement with Indonesia and offers of assistance to tackle forest and land fires were important but insufficient to resolve a crisis that had persisted for more than three decades.
“The haze crisis is not simply a matter of unfavourable wind conditions or a diplomatic dispute between Asean countries.
“It reflects longstanding failures in environmental governance, including forest and peatland destruction, unsustainable land-use practices, inadequate enforcement and a lack of corporate accountability,” he said.
Heng said Malaysia could not enforce environmental laws within Indonesia’s borders but could strengthen domestic legislation, investigate Malaysian companies potentially linked to environmental destruction overseas and push for greater regional cooperation.
“Satellite-detected fire hotspots identified by civil society groups should be investigated further using verified burn-scar data, concession maps and corporate ownership records, as hotspots alone do not establish legal liability,” he said.
As of 5pm yesterday, about 250 hotspots had been detected in Indonesia and its surrounding islands, according to the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre, while neighbouring countries recorded none.
Heng called on the government to introduce a Clean Air Act with provisions to address transboundary haze, conduct transparent investigations into Malaysian-linked companies and strengthen cooperation with Indonesia and other Asean countries.
He also urged the government to announce a time-bound roadmap for these measures before the current parliamentary meeting ends in December.
“Success should not be measured by the number of diplomatic meetings held, but by whether fewer forests burn, responsible corporations are held accountable and communities across South-East Asia can finally breathe clean air.
“Malaysia cannot control where the wind blows, but it can control how seriously we enforce our laws and hold polluters accountable,” he said.
Universiti Malaya meteorologist Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah said the recurring haze was largely driven by slash-and-burn land-clearing practices in Indonesia’s Kalimantan and Sumatra regions.
He said drier-than-normal conditions associated with El Nino could allow fires to spread into forests and peatlands, making them difficult to contain.
“Asean has not been able to manage the issue of transboundary haze well. That is why it recurs every year around July to September,” he said.
Azizan said the severity and duration of the haze depended partly on the scale of land-clearing fires and prevailing weather conditions.
He said the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution needed stronger enforcement provisions, including a liability clause, to hold those responsible for fires accountable.
“Without such provisions, regional governments are largely left to appeal to Indonesia to enforce its laws against slash-and-burn practices.
“Malaysia should consider legislation similar to Singapore’s, which allows action against companies responsible for transboundary haze, provided the necessary evidence can be established,” he said.
