MALAYSIA will punish its companies that are responsible for land-clearing fires in Indonesia, said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad today.

“We want to take action against Malaysian companies who have estates outside of the country that are contributing towards the haze because of burning in their estates.

“We will ask them to take action to put out the fires.

“If we find they are unwilling, we may have to pass a law,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the Wisma Putra’s foreign policy framework.

The companies should be responsible for the fires on their lands even if they are outside Malaysia, said Dr Mahathir.

Unlike Singapore that has a transboundary smoke pollution law, Malaysia does not have a legal framework to punish its companies causing air pollution overseas.

Indonesian authorities last week alleged that a Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd (KLK) subsidiary, PT Adei Plantation, had set fire to its land to clear it for oil palm planting.

KLK has confirmed that there was burning on its subsidiary’s land in Riau, Sumatra.

One of Malaysia’s oldest plantation companies, 51% of KLK’s 285,000ha are in Indonesia, while 26% of it in Peninsular Malaysia, 15% in Sabah and 8% in Liberia.

Another company TDM Berhad also admitted to fire in its Indonesian subsidiary’s estate.

Two other Malaysian companies, Sime Darby Plantation and IOI Corporation Berhad, have denied accusations made against their Indonesian subsidiaries.

Besides punishing the offenders, Putrajaya wants to step up efforts to show where the hotspots are, said Dr Mahathir.

“We think that we should publicise the effort through government statements and by showing where the hotspots are.”

He said although Malaysian ministers have raised the smoke issue with their Indonesian counterparts, there was still dispute as to where the issue originated.

“We have already raised the issue with Indonesian ministers who denied it originates from their country.

“That’s why we plan to publish satellite pictures of hotspots.” – September 18, 2019.