LET’S recap. We had two Pasir Gudang pollution incidents followed by a few river contamination cases that caused water treatment plants to be shut down, and recently transboundary smoke. These different issues have striking similarities. Once the incident is over, we tend to forget about it until they recur. 

Except for lip service from the authorities, no concrete solutions will come out of it. Transboundary smoke has been happening for more than two decades. In the recent Budget 2020, it was announced that RM27 million is allocated to counter the anti-palm oil campaign and another RM30 million to Department of Environment and Department of Chemistry to deal with pollution issues. Will we get value for money spent? To get the ball rolling, what happened to the “full report” on the Sungai Kim Kim and Pasir Gudang pollution?

Just look at how transboundary smoke makes Malaysia a loser. It will start with denial followed by statements of regret. When pressure builds up in Malaysia, we get a reply that it’s only few months but they (Indonesia) give clean air to breathe for the rest of the year. If further pressure is applied, Indonesia will name a few Malaysian companies and then a short brouhaha. Finally, that forgetful attitude kicks in again until the same scenario repeats again the following year. This is a simplified version of how episode of transboundary smoke unfold in Malaysia.

Furthermore, can a transboundary smoke law help? Frankly, the minister in charge of environment should look at the bigger picture and should not follow Singapore to enact a law only on transboundary smoke. Malaysia should enact a transboundary pollution law and smoke is one of the elements that can be included. A legal agreement of cooperation between our neighbours Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines should follow suit. Use such collaboration to get Asean to adopt a Transboundary Pollution Cooperation Agreement to cover all types of pollution. Just look at Pasir Gudang. It is very simple to connect the dots and link the pollution to the responsible companies. But, no action was taken towards that. What will we do if hazardous chemicals cross national boundaries to pollute and maybe cause death. Asean needs to get a grip and put in place better protections for its people and not just go full steam ahead with transboundary smoke agreement.

It is very easy to handle the transboundary smoke. This is what Malaysian government needs to do:

1. Get list of all companies found guilty by Indonesia since the 1990s, group them by category and release it to the public.

2. Ban products related to these companies (especially repeat offenders) this is a more effective economic punishment. You hit them where it is most painful via “name and shame” method.

3. Create similar pressure throughout the world to ban bad companies and their investors. There are already a number anti-palm oil cheerleaders that are more than willing to assist.

4. Create three-dimension pollution modelling and an improved pollution index for areas with a lot of high-rise residences. A single point analysis does not represent populations that dwell in high-rises. This is to ensure better pollution monitoring and emergency management.

5. Publish annual resources wasted to manage haze. These losses must be calculated from the year haze started and prevalent fixed deposit rate to be used annually to accumulate the losses until 2019. These include estimation of public and private medical expenses, government personnel tasked with handling the situation, disruption to the public and private sectors and other related fields.

6. Use Asean to claim the losses suffered by Malaysia all these years.

On the other hand, the anti-palm oil campaign can be handled professionally and swiftly. Once Malaysia and Asean weed out the bad companies, the industry’s will improve. If the palm oil industry is wrongfully accused, get the facts straightened in court and use judicial means or other processes to overturn the EU ban on use of palm oil for biofuel. If the EU is defeated, this court verdict will advertise throughout the world and the industry can clear its name with style. Why use taxpayers’ money? In Malaysia, we use palm oil in almost everything, why do a campaign here? The industry should fund any activity to protect their interests.

The Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia never expected the protection of the people and the environment will drop to such a level. It is heartbreaking to see the focus put on publicity stunts. So, before any of the allocations are wasted, can the ministers in charge of palm oil and environment carry out the given suggestion by end of 2019? If both of you fail, please do the honourable act by gracefully vacating your respective portfolios to make way for those who can take the bull by the horns. – October 31, 2019.

* Piarapakaran S. is president of the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia. He reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.