KUALA LUMPUR: A thorough investigation must be done to confirm whether Malaysian plantation companies have failed to put out forest fires in neighbouring countries and are, therefore, partly responsible for the haze.
Chairman of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (Niosh) Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye (pix) said if Malaysian companies were involved, it was timely for the government to introduce a new legislation to prosecute those found guilty of causing fires in their property even if it is outside Malaysia.
“Malaysians have to face haze and its ill effects almost on an annual basis for more than 20 years due to the forest fires and open burning locally and in neighbouring countries.
“The problem must be settled once and for all as haze has a serious impact on public health and the economy. No stone should be left unturned during the investigation as the authorities must ensure that actions are taken based on facts and hard evidence,” he said in a statement today.
Lee also hoped that the government would use the Asean framework to discuss with the neighbouring countries on the best ways to tackle the haze problem and on how to avoid its recurrence.
He said although Malaysia is a signatory of the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, many experts said the government should have followed up on the regional treaty by crafting its own law for any real effect.
“Apart from helping to conduct cloud seeding in the affected areas, the countries involved must also find ways to tackle the peat forest fires which are quite difficult to douse using the conventional ways.
Previously, it was reported that the Malaysian government might propose a law to prosecute Malaysian plantation companies which were found guilty of causing forest fires and haze.
The foreign media quoted Indonesia’s Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar recently as saying that there were four Malaysian companies out of at least 30 companies whose palm oil plantations in Indonesia had been sealed off for allegedly being responsible for the fires. — Bernama
