KUALA LUMPUR – The shifts in federal administrations in the past three years not only affected government policies while altering the political landscape, they also came at the expense of the environment, according to experts.
Senior lecturer at Universiti Putra Malaysia’s (UPM) Environmental and Occupational Health Department, Assoc Prof Haliza Abdul Rahman noted that the leadership changes in May 2018 and March last year had resulted in several environmental policies and amendments being scrapped or postponed.
She said had past and present governments possessed the political will to take necessary actions to clamp down on the issues, Malaysia would not have suffered the grave repercussions of plastic waste dumping as it has done recently.
A report by the Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4) published two weeks ago titled Malaysia is not a Garbage Dump has highlighted the impact of the global plastic waste crisis and how it has resulted in a sharp rise in illegal recycling facilities and dumpsites in Malaysia.
This came about after China banned 24 types of solid waste imports in 2018, leading to developed countries shifting their exports to Southeast Asia and other developing nations with weaker regulatory frameworks. Of these, Malaysia became the top destination in 2018, importing 754,000 tonnes of plastic waste.
While there have been fewer reports of illegal plastic waste dumping in the past year due to Covid-19, there are concerns that instances of pollution will re-emerge once movement restrictions are eased globally.
Speaking to The Vibes, Haliza noted how a proposed amendment under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to give more bite to the Environmental Quality Act 1974 (Act 127) to clamp down on pollution got put on hold following its collapse in March 2020.
The efforts by the former Barisan Nasional (BN) and current Perikatan Nasional (PN) administrations have also been lackadaisical at best, she pointed out.
“While increasing the fine and prison terms will not address the issue wholly, it will have a positive impact. In a way, it will instil fear among polluters,” she said.
“But when you keep changing governments, you are only delaying matters that need to be expedited. And when this happens, you need strong political will to implement the changes and policies, even if they were mooted by past administrations.”
At present, punishment for pollution and depositing of scheduled waste is punishable under Act 127 with fines of RM100,000 and RM500,000 respectively, with a maximum of five years imprisonment. Many have described these as paltry compared to the toll left on the environment.
Last week, Environment and Water Minister Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man said the ministry is looking to review the punishment to possibly a fine of up to RM15 million, although he did not provide a time frame.
In its report, C4 had recommended, among others, that penalties for environmental pollution and enforcement efforts be increased, with complete bans on export and import of plastic waste, as well as instituting regulations to only allow importing of waste with a maximum of 0.5% contamination rate.
What happened to the environmental education subject?
Haliza said that while PH had made some strides in trying to beef up Act 127, the coalition is not entirely faultless on the problem of environmental degradation. She pointed to PH’s failure to see through a plan by its predecessor in government, BN, to introduce environmental studies in schools.
In April 2018, then environment minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had announced that primary and secondary school students would be taught the subject beginning 2019, as the government sought to educate locals on biodiversity and environmental preservation.
However, there was no further news of its implementation after PH wrested Putrajaya in the general election the following month.
Haliza said the subject is particularly important as enforcement alone is insufficient. The more pressing issues include public awareness, which she said can only be instilled among Malaysians through education.
“At present, bits of environmental studies are included in other subjects, but what we need is a specific subject on the matter. It was supposed to be implemented in 2019, and I hope the new government will reconsider it.”
Attempts to get Tuan Ibrahim and Yeo Bee Yin, the environment minister under PH, for comments were unsuccessful at press time.
Previously, questions were also raised over the PH government’s reluctance to impose an outright ban on the import of plastic waste in 2018, opting instead to focus on enhancing enforcement.
While C4 claims that some 170 illegal recycling factories had been shut down by September 2019 through enforcement, the boom of the plastic waste trade in Malaysia has left an indelible mark on the country, with hazardous substances and chemicals found in waters and soils, as noted by Greenpeace Malaysia.
Gov’t must have strong resolve or the public will suffer
Like Haliza, Federation of Malaysian Consumers Association (Fomca) president Datuk Marimuthu Nadason said that the situation calls for strong political will in a sitting government to put a stop to environmental threats.
This is especially crucial as consumers will be the eventual party feeling the brunt of the impact of pollution, he said, citing water disruption due to river contamination as an example.
“The government must take immediate action to address any environmental issues we are facing,” he said. “There’s no point for us to blame others. Stop pointing fingers and save our planet for our future generations.”
While acknowledging the role that the public should play, Marimuthu also agreed that there is a dire need for punishment on polluters to be increased considerably.
“I do recognise that it is extremely important to have better deterrence than what we have now. Pollution has only become worse in the past few years, and there are no two ways around it,” he said. – The Vibes, April 10, 2021
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