[901] Of demanding Indonesia to ratify the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution

Last year, I blogged about how Indonesia hasn’t ratified the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. I really believe Malaysia and others countries that are affected by this current major environmental disaster should press on Indonesia to ratify the agreement immediately. However, our government is too busy regulating language and moral while stiffling freedom instead of ensuring our well-being.

Given the inability of our government to prioritize its priorities — given the current administration’s failure to protect our interest, our health, our environment — I call on all environmental conscious Malaysians to not to vote for Barisan Nasional in the next election. The next time you’re at the ballot box, remember this haze. Remember how ineffective this administration is in solving this problem.

I’ve already said the haze will return this year despite all the Badawi administration said. This environmental degradation will happen every year unless we stand up against Indonesia and say no more. We need to arrest this issue at its root cause. All the cloud seeding does not permanently solve our problem. We need to insist Indonesia to ratify the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. From there on, more meaningful cooperation between Malaysia, Indonesia and other ASEAN countries could be forged.

While our government is failing us, I’m happy to spread the word that Greenpeace is fighting for us:

Greenpeace activists literally smoked out the forestry ministry in Jakarta on Thursday to protest the government’s failure to stop forest fires. The blazes have spread choking smog over much of Southeast Asia, threatening the health of millions.

Over the past week, thick smoke from fires in Sumatra and Central Kalimantan has affected Singapore and Malaysia.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia has more pictures at their website.

Some may point out that it’s the Malaysian plantation firms operating in Indonesia that are causing this. The counter-punch hasn’t changed; Malaysia doesn’t have the authority to exercise its environmental laws on Indonesian soil.

Regardless, I strongly believe the Malaysian government should formulate a law that could somehow punish this Malaysian firms for causing this environmental degradation. The law must internalize this negative externalities. I do however see the difficulty in legislating such law. This is why an ASEAN Parliament is so important; such supranational could enforce environmental laws through out ASEAN.
Hey DAP, are you organizing another protest in front of the Indonesian embassy? I’ll join you guys again if it’s going to be held on weekends.