A civil society group has threatened to sue the Malaysian government for negligence and breach of trust over the haze crisis enveloping the country.
The group consists the NGO MAP(Memacu Arus Perjuangan) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia(PRM).
A legal notice has been served to Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk G. Palanivel at 4pm today, claimed the group.
The notice demanded answers from the government, including what specific action the government planned to take to solve the issue.
The Government is given a week (seven days) in the notice to provide ‘an explanation’, failing which the group said that they would “take the necessary legal action as our next course of action”.
The group said that this legal suit were being done to hold the government accountable as “under the constitution, the government is obligated to protect the citizens".
“We noted that the haze situation has reached dangerous levels recently. Emergencies have been declared and schools have been closed as a result of the toxic and harmful smog,” said a joint statement by MAP secretary-general Ahmad Jufliz bin Faiza and PRM secretary Al Jafree Md Yusop.
They said that the media has published the names of eight alleged Malaysian-linked companies involved in the burning the forests in Indonesia. This action has allegedly led to threat to the environment security and health security of the citizens of Malaysia.
In the legal notice, the group also demanded the Government to answer:
- Whether the information on the companies are true and if they were actually responsible for the burnings and thus causing the present haze in Malaysia;
- Whether there are other Malaysian related companies responsible for this haze in Malaysia;
- Whether the same Malaysian related companies had caused the haze previously since this haze issue has been a recurring problem for more that 15 years;
- What are step and action the government should take against the Indonesian government to ensure that the haze problem is corrected and there will no longer be recurring problem in future;
- What step and action the government should take to ensure the Indonesian government ratified the 2002 Souteast Asia Trans-boundary Haze Agreement [Seatha] which allows countries to work together in preventing and fighting forest fires;
- How many persons especially children and elderly been affected and hospitalized due to this haze problems;
- Whether the API [Air Pollutant Index] to measure particulate pollution was the most suitable method in Malaysia
- Why there are not enough stock of quality N95 masks in this country where in Singapore they have distribute freely to their citizens.
On Sunday, the group gave the Government a 48-hour ultimatum to give them a reply but were ignored.
Previously, Indonesian Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya named eight companies with alleged Malaysian links that are being investigated for burning in Riau and Jambi.
The eight companies concerned are PT Langgam Inti Hiberida, PT Bumi Rakksa Sejati, PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation, PT Udaya Loh Dinawi, PT Adei Plantation, PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa, PT Multi Gambut Industri and PT Mustika Agro Lestari. Another 14 companies were being investigated.
Teoh El Sen
Tue Jun 25 2013
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