Once again the country is blanketed by a thick layer of haze starting last Friday, with several areas in West Malaysia and eastern Sarawak suffering from unhealthy air quality. Although the situation has somewhat improved now, and fewer places with API over 100, due to the unpredictable climatic changes of late, we should not take things lightly.

We used to suffer tremendous economic losses and compromised health as a consequence of smoggy air, and therefore cannot afford to tackle the haze in a passive manner, as in the past.

Uncontrolled forest fires in southern Sumatra and south central Kalimantan in Indonesia are the main culprits of transboundary haze. According to the department of environment, no hot spots have been detected in Malaysia. Nevertheless, the Indonesian authorities have refuted claims of transboundary haze originating from their country, insisting that they have not noted any smog drifting across the borders.

Sarawak’s Deputy Minister for Energy and Environmental Sustainability Hazland Abang Hipni said ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center data show the transboundary haze originating from Indonesia, and as such Jakarta should not deny that the haze in Malaysia has been caused by forest fires in Indonesia.

Minister of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad has said that Malaysia has written to Indonesia on cooperation under ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in a bid to solve this perennial problem. Sure enough we must also ensure that forest or peat fires within our borders are effectively controlled, along with vehicular pollution and illegal open burning activities that may also give rise to haze pollution.

Besides Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore which are prone to haze  pollution due to the transition of monsoons in September, other regional countries such as Thailand, Laos and Myanmar also suffered from severe haze this April. This shows that indeed ASEAN countries need to work closer together to tackle transboundary haze pollution.

A comprehensive disaster risk management mechanism must be drawn up, and coordination among the region’s disaster management agencies must be stepped up.

The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution signed in Kuala Lumpur in 2002 is meant to pool together regional efforts to strengthen regional and global cooperation to mitigate and prevent haze pollution. Malaysia was the first signatory of the Agreement, while Indonesia ratified it only in 2014.

There has been much talk and hardly any action to tackle the perennial problem of transboundary haze pollution.

The 17th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on the Environment and the 18th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution were held in Laos this August. Ironically, right after the meetings, several countries in the region started to come under the assault of haze. Apparently, not much progress has been made to address this serious environmental issue.

Threats from climate change and the El Niño phenomenon are increasingly serious, and it is imperative that firm actions are taken as soon as possible.

In the meetings, ASEAN ministers realized that land clearing for cultivation and open burning activities are the main culprits of haze pollution, and stressed that collective actions are essential to stop such activities.

There has been much talk and hardly any action to tackle this problem. To ensure that the Agreement is effectively executed, decisive measures must be adopted, including enhanced supervisory mechanism and cross-country cooperation.

One of the solutions is for member states to draw up their transboundary haze bills. Unfortunately, even if Malaysia was the first to sign the Agreement, we have yet to pass the relevant bill as of today.

According to former Energy, Science, Technology, Climate Change and Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin, she started to explore the legal framework to tackle transboundary haze when she was in office, and had made proposals to the government.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia has said the drafting of transboundary haze bills has a deterrent effect, and provides legal ground for the establishment of a counterbalance mechanism. According to Yeo, the bill will enable the government to take action against Malaysian individuals and companies engaging in activities that will cause air pollution in the country, no matter where the forest fires occur.

Feb. 12, 2020, the then Pakatan Harapan cabinet discussed and agreed in principle to draw up the transboundary haze bill, but of course, following the collapse of the PH government as a consequence of the Sheraton Move, the bill has since been aborted.

Now that PH once again leads the Unity Government, in view of the re-emergence of haze pollution in the country, the Unity Government not only needs to write to Indonesia to seek the latter’s cooperation to tackle this problem, it is also time to bring back the aborted bill.

Yeo said while cross-border enforcement and litigation are not easy pending cooperation from other countries, the bill nevertheless provides some preventive clauses to enhance corporate transparency and curtail inappropriate practices by Malaysian plantation companies in other countries, while serving as a powerful deterrent.

Singapore adopted the bill way back in 2014, and it is now time for us to play catch-up.