Government appears incapable of dealing with haze 
Malaysiakini
Oct  6, 2006
Beh Lih Yi

Concerned groups called on the government today to take sterner action regionally and domestically in its battle against the worsening haze.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the government must make a strong stand and push the Indonesian government into complying with the Asean regional haze action plan.

“Our government has failed miserably in protecting its citizens’ health in this case,” said Lim, when contacted this afternoon.

The Asean plan, spelling out cooperation among Asean countries in fighting haze was signed by the majority of Asean members but Indonesia failed to be a signatory.

“The haze has disrupted the mid-autumn festival celebration today,” quipped Lim, referring to the popular Chinese festival observed with happy family reunions.

Local human rights watchdog Suaram executive director Yap Swee Seng said the haze creates a negative impact to human health from a human rights perspective.

Monitoring system

“The government has the responsibility to ensure this rights is not violated,” he told malaysiakini, adding that it has been a recurring problem that the government seems incapable of handling.

Yap said there must be a creation of a haze monitoring system at the regional level.

He also urged the government to investigate whether Malaysian companies were involved in open burning in Indonesian forests.

Meanwhile, Transparency International-Malaysia (TI-M) president Ramon Navaratnam appealed to the government to be more transparent in informing the public on the causes of the problem and its remedial measures taken.

In a statement today, he said that the Malaysian government should convene an urgent regional conference to discuss the matter and come up with concrete solutions, be it immediate or long-term.

“TI-M believes that the people are entitled to more accountability and transparency from the governments of the countries affected by the haze as to what had been done and will be done to reduce, if not eradicate, the causes of the recurrent problem,” Ramon noted.

“Perhaps the Asean TI chapters should, in consultation with civil society groups and legislators, hold an urgent conference and work out concrete strategies for the consideration of the governments concerned,” he added.

In August last year, the government lifted an eight-year ban on the disclosure of the Air Pollutant Index (API) in view of the worsening haze condition in the country. A state of emergency was also declared last year.

The API readings were kept out of public knowledge since the country was hit by the worst-ever haze in 1997 that severely affected the local tourism industry.