Archive for category environment
Malaysia must resolve both the problems of environmental haze and political haze in the country
Posted by Kit in ASEAN, environment on Friday, 12 May 2023
Yesterday, together with the former Minister for Primary Industries and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok, I visited the Greenpeace exhibition on Haze at the former Rex Theatre site at Jalan Sultan, Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia should offer our firefighters’ help in the Australian bushfire crisis
Posted by Kit in environment, International on Sunday, 5 January 2020
Malaysia should offer our firefighters’ help in the Australian bushfire crisis, which will be in the spirit of good neighbourliness.
Australia is facing an unprecedented bushfire crisis, which is reported to be entering a dangerous new phase with high temperatures and strong winds set to exacerbate the already devastating fire conditions across the country.
There are fears a number of still-raging blazes could merge to create “monster infernos” in Victoria and New South Wales.
Proposal for Johore State and Federal Governments to jointly host a Conference on Environmental Issues after three recent environment disasters in the state
Posted by Kit in environment, Johore on Tuesday, 27 August 2019
Cadangan untuk Kerajaan Negeri Johor bersama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan mengadakan satu Persidangan Isu Alam Sekitar selepas kejadian tiga bencana alam sekitar melanda negeri ini
Bersama dengan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri DAP untuk kawasan Skudai, Tan Hong Pin, saya ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Saudara Tan Chen Choon, Pengerusi Jawatankuasa Kerajaan Tempatan, Kesejahteraan Bandar dan Alam Sekitar Negeri Johor, dan Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat untuk taklimat mengenai kebakaran yang telah memusnahkan 16 hektar hutan di Kampung Pekajang di Jalan Tanjong Kupang.
Saya puji pegawai dan kakitangan Jabatan Bomba dan Penyelamat untuk dedikasi dan usaha mereka dalam mengawal dan memadamkan kebakaran ini sepanjang minggu yang lalu.
Sepanjang beberapa bulan yang lepas, kawasan Selatan Johor telah mengalami tiga bencana alam sekitar. Bermula dengan pencemaran toksik di Sungai Kim Kim yang berlaku pada 7 Mac 2019 disebabkan oleh pembuangan bahan kimia haram. Pembuangan bahan kimia secara haram ini telah menyebabkan pelepasan wasap toksik yang menjejaskan kesihatan 6,000 individu dan menyebabkan 2,775 individu dihospitalkan. Kebanyakan mangsa adalah pelajar sekolah memandangkan terdapat 110 buah sekolah yang ditutup di sekitar kawasan sungai tersebut.
Bencana alam sekitar yang kedua ialah pencemaran udara di Pasir Gudang pada bulan Jun 2019 yang telah menyebabkan ramai individu yang tinggal berdekatan dengan kawasan kilang terpaksa mendapatkan rawatan di hospital selepas terhidu wasap toksik. Read the rest of this entry »
The Federal and Pahang state governments must ensure that the existing pollution and environmental degradation is reversed and proper safeguards put in place before allowing even one kg of bauxite to be mined after the mining moratorium ends on the 15th of April, 2016
Posted by Kit in environment on Monday, 21 March 2016
In addition to having 1MDB being named as the 3rd world corruption scandal of 2015 by Foreign Policy Magazine and appearing as one of the 5 countries named in TIME Magazine’s State of Global Corruption, Malaysia can add one more ‘achievement’ for 2015 – going from almost no production of bauxite in 2013 to producing 20 million tons in 2015 making the country the fourth largest bauxite producer in the world after Australia, China and Brazil!
The result of this uncontrolled exploitation of resources driven by greed is the serious pollution of rivers and other water bodies in and near Kuantan, the stripping of forests and earth at mining sites and the transformation of the roads and buildings in the area to various hues of red and orange. The total failure and inability of the state and federal government to control the bauxite mining activities led to the sea off the coast of Kuantan turning red earlier this year! The frustration of the people over this disaster was clearly evident when some residents set alight 5 lorries which were carrying bauxite through their areas.
There is now tremendous pressure on the state and federal governments to allow the bauxite mining operations to continue when the moratorium imposed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment ends on the 15th of April, after a period of 3 months. Read the rest of this entry »
Raped and plundered
Posted by Kit in Corruption, environment on Thursday, 11 February 2016
Azrul Mohd Khalib
Malay Mail Online
February 11, 2016
FEBRUARY 11 ― Those were the two words which came to my mind when I first saw and heard what had happened. I wish it was an exaggeration. But it really wasn’t.
The Lynas debacle was a picnic compared to the fallout from uncontrolled and unregulated bauxite mining. You have to see it with your own eyes and listen to the stories from those living there to know, to understand and to even believe what the hell is going on in Kuantan.
I was recently in Pahang to participate in a discussion on the issue of corruption in the country. It was apt that the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) forum was in the one place where the dire consequences of widespread corruption and the failure of regulations and enforcement of laws could be visibly seen, breathed in, and even drank.
Despite a three-month moratorium on bauxite mining currently in place since January 15, it is clear that massive damage to the environment and to the long-term wellbeing of the surrounding communities had already been done. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Vanishing Ice’ Makes Beautiful Bid For Action on Climate Change
Posted by Kit in environment on Thursday, 11 February 2016
By Rachael Myrow
FEBRUARY 10, 2016
Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2002, a new exhibition at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, explores the way artists since the late 18th century have depicted the frozen parts of our planet. It’s a show that forces people to stop seeing the polar ice caps as bleak, alien landscapes, and instead as delicate ecosystems full of life and color -– all of it under threat as a result of climate change.
DOE limits controversial Johor Straits housing project over environmental concerns
Posted by Kit in environment, Johor Bahru, Johore on Tuesday, 6 January 2015
BY JAHABAR SADIQ, EDITOR
The Malaysian Insider
5 January 2015
China developer Country Gardens Holdings can only develop less than 1,000 acres (405ha) or a quarter of its controversial 1,600 hectares Forest City project in the Johor Straits under new limits set by the Department of Environment (DOE).
The Malaysian Insider has learnt that the DOE has verbally informed Country Garden Pacificview Sdn Bhd (CGP), a joint-venture unit of Country Gardens Holdings Co Ltd, of the new limits after complaints from locals and the Singapore government over reclamation works in the narrow waterway between Malaysia and the island state.
“The DOE has decided to limit the project to the first phase and wait for a few years to see the impact before looking at future phases,” a source told The Malaysian Insider.
“The DOE is expected to send an official letter about its decision soon to relevant parties,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
Earth lost 50% of its wildlife in the past 40 years, says WWF
Posted by Kit in environment on Tuesday, 30 September 2014
Damian Carrington
The Guardian
29 September 2014
Species across land, rivers and seas decimated as humans kill for food in unsustainable numbers and destroy habitats
The number of wild animals on Earth has halved in the past 40 years, according to a new analysis. Creatures across land, rivers and the seas are being decimated as humans kill them for food in unsustainable numbers, while polluting or destroying their habitats, the research by scientists at WWF and the Zoological Society of London found.
“If half the animals died in London zoo next week it would be front page news,” said Professor Ken Norris, ZSL’s director of science. “But that is happening in the great outdoors. This damage is not inevitable but a consequence of the way we choose to live.” He said nature, which provides food and clean water and air, was essential for human wellbeing.
“We have lost one half of the animal population and knowing this is driven by human consumption, this is clearly a call to arms and we must act now,” said Mike Barratt, director of science and policy at WWF. He said more of the Earth must be protected from development and deforestation, while food and energy had to be produced sustainably.
The steep decline of animal, fish and bird numbers was calculated by analysing 10,000 different populations, covering 3,000 species in total. This data was then, for the first time, used to create a representative “Living Planet Index” (LPI), reflecting the state of all 45,000 known vertebrates. Read the rest of this entry »
Invitation to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department and Deputy Environment Minister to visit “Pulau Ubah” to ascertain whether large-scale land reclamation in accordance with the law
Posted by Kit in environment on Saturday, 5 April 2014
It is my pleasure to be with all of you today for this meaningful event. Soon we will get down to the ground, or rather the mudflats, to plant 500 mangrove seedlings, marking the start of coastal mangrove rehabilitation in this area.
This is a collective effort of different organisations and individuals present here today. The Green Team under the Malaysian Dream Movement, and the NGO J.A.R.I.N.G are the co-organisers. But perhaps more encouraging is to see many of you volunteers, from Pontian as well as other parts of Johore, to join us here on this faithful morning.
You are all agents for change for a better Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Uncontrolled Development – “Pulau Ubah”
Posted by Kit in environment, Johor Bahru, Johore on Thursday, 13 March 2014
(Speech 3 in Dewan Rakyat when taking part in the debate on Motion of Thanks for the Royal Address on Thursday, 13th March 2014)
Allow me to bring the attention of the House to the problems of uncontrolled and poorly regulated development activities in Iskandar Malaysia which caused irreversible damages to our precious environment and severely hurt local livelihoods especially the poor who are largely dependent on natural resources for their sustenance.
This is the case that took place at Pendas and Tanjung Kupang, within the parliament constituency of Gelang Patah. It is located in the district of Johor Bahru and also part of the Iskandar Development Region.
Since January this year, a coastal reclamation project has rapidly taken shape in the waters of the Johore Straits close to Tanjung Kupang. This is close to the Second Link and the Malaysia – Singapore maritime border. There are no signboards, no public information, no approval from the authorities be it federal agencies like the Department of Environment, the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA), or the State Government which is supposed to regulate and control all earthwork activities.
It is one humongous project as far as coastal reclamation is concerned. The size is 2500 acres to be exact (according to official documents that we have sighted). I visited the ongoing reclamation site by boat twice. First on 15th February 2014 and then on 24th February 2014. It was shocking. The damages were beyond words. In the middle of nowhere, an island was in the making so rapidly that just between my first and second visit, the size of the reclaimed island has doubled. Read the rest of this entry »
Does the palm oil industry meet the UN’s Climate Change Convention?
Posted by Kit in environment, Health on Saturday, 1 February 2014
– Koon Yew Yin
The Malaysian Insider
January 30, 2014
What kind of men would cut down these ancient irreplaceable giants trees? Each of them was over one thousand years old. Over a period of a few decades around 1850, 95% of the two million acres of Redwood forest in California were cut and destroyed.
Now they say we are wrong to cut our trees to plant oil palms. What do they say when Brazil cut down their rain forest to plant soya beans? Let us examine the true situation.
Oil palm smallholdings and plantations meet the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change which defines a forest as an area of 0.5 to one hectare having more than 30 per cent canopy cover and having a potential height of two to five metres.
To accuse the industry in Malaysia and Indonesia of contributing to global warming is sheer nonsense. In fact oil palm trees just as with other forest species, produce oxygen for us to breathe and act to counter coal and oil emissions which are the major cause of global warming. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia in 2030
Posted by Kit in environment, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Transport on Wednesday, 16 October 2013
Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
October 16, 2013
In discussing the issues we face in 2013, it will be instructive for us to find new perspective by looking beyond the horizon to consider the possibilities that 2030 holds.
Both Tun Abdullah Badawi who was Prime Minister from October 2003 till April 2009 and Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who took over from him since then have missed the boat to reform Malaysia. Likewise, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Vision 2020 is just a distant dream, a castle in the sky.
Post-13th General Election, discussions about Malaysia’s future is no longer depending on Barisan Nasional. The government-in-waiting Pakatan Rakyat and the rakyat (people) need a broader horizon as a reference for this kind of conversation. Read the rest of this entry »
Environment Minister Palanivel and even PM Najib should be censured for failing to ensure that the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament this morning address the government’s agenda on the haze emergency
Posted by Kit in environment, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Environment Minister Datuk Seri S. Palanivel and even the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should be censured for failing to ensure that the Royal Address delivered by the Yang di Pertuan Agong at the opening of the 13th Parliament this morning address the government’s agenda on the haze emergency.
In a constitutional monarchy, the Royal Address at the opening of Parliament outlines the government’s agenda for the coming year. The Royal Address is prepared by Cabinet Ministers outlining the government’s legislative agenda and their national priorities.
It is not that the haze emergency occurred only last night, catching the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers by surprise so that they could not incorporate the government’s concerns, agenda and priorities in addressing the haze catastrophe in the Royal Address.
The country has been haunted and hounded by the haze catastrophe for a week, with thousands of schools closed in the past week throughout the country, affecting the lives, health and livelihood of millions of Malaysians in various parts of the country, starting from Johor Baru and Muar in the south and moving progressively northwards to Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Perak, Pahang and Penang with the change of winds from the raging peat fires in Riau and Sumatra. Read the rest of this entry »
The EC is playing God
Posted by Kit in Elections, environment, Mariam Mokhtar on Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jun 24, 2013
We have heard the same trite comments before: “We’re clean. We’re not guilty. It wasn’t us.”
Umno Baru’s most sanctimonious hypocrite, Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof, has denied claims of cheating.
Abdul Aziz expressed sadness that the indelible ink used in GE13 could easily be washed off and in an interview with the Malay daily Sinar Harian said, “If people ask me now, what is the saddest thing in my life, I would answer: ‘Indelible ink’.”
The indelible ink had been tested before use and he said, “On the much-awaited day, the power of Allah is greater when the ink could disappear after being washed several times. Where is the mistake?” Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t scold neighbours, fix problem instead
Posted by Kit in environment on Monday, 24 June 2013
– Koran Tempo
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 24, 2013
It is very sad when officials have yet to really learn about how to act when facing a haze disaster like right now. The haze problem is a routine disaster, happening every year. Yet, when the dry season comes, they are still confused about how to overcome the haze.
Those of sound mind will shake their heads looking at the minimal action taken by the government. This is especially so when we see Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono getting worked up and angry with Singapore’s frustration at seeing the haze, and saying “the neighbouring country’s action is childish”.
Mr Agung’s attitude is not helpful at all, and in fact shows how rotten government policy is in dealing with the haze. The disaster this time is fairly severe.
The Standard Air Pollutants Index owned by PT Chevron in Dumai showed a reading of 400, meaning the air quality was very hazardous. In Malaysia, the pollutants index reached 383.
The result is that thousands of students in Malaysia and Singapore were sent home. Former Singapore prime minister Goh Chok Tong even said “the child is being suffocated”. Read the rest of this entry »
Smoke gets in our eyes: A way out
Posted by Kit in environment, Lim Teck Ghee on Monday, 24 June 2013
Dr Lim Teck Ghee
24.6.2013
Returning to Kuala Lumpur after several weeks abroad, the pea soup of polluted air that greeted our descent was the worst I have ever experienced. It seemed to stretch interminably for miles on end far beyond the horizon. The acrid smell of burnt wood induced bouts of coughing amongst fellow passengers as we queued for our taxi ride. “Welcome to foggy Malaysia”, someone remarked in a futile attempt at raising everyone’s spirits.
On board our taxi, the friendly Pak Cik driver asked where we had come from and how long we had been away. He was quickly absorbed in talking about the number one topic currently on the mind of millions in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia as lungs continue to be assailed by the smoke coming from the Sumatra fires.
The taxi driver’s point was indisputable although diplomatically expressed. Neighbours in an apartment or kampung should keep their own as well as the common environment hazard-free and clean. They also need to watch out for each other.
Clearly Indonesia needs to do more to get its act together to prevent the illegal burnings that are an annual occurrence. But as noted by the former Singapore Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong: “Forest and peat fires are not easy to put out. They are not like our lalang or bush fires, small and confined. They burn and smoulder over thousands of acres in remote places far from the reach of fire fighters. So it is best to prevent man-made, illegal fires from being started in the first place.”
Past attempts at preventing illegal fires have failed miserably – not only in Indonesia but also Malaysia. Because they have failed, tens of millions of ringgit and thousands of billions of rupiah have been spent purchasing the latest haze monitoring equipment to keep us informed, and fire-fighting and rain-inducing equipment to help put the fires out. In the meantime, incalculable sums are being lost in terms of the impact on productivity, health, tourism revenue, and other knock-on effects. If the haze persists for a few months, we may be talking of losses of billions of dollars and perhaps even a few points shaved off the region’s GDP. Read the rest of this entry »
Haze now heading north to KL and PJ and beyond
Posted by Kit in environment on Monday, 24 June 2013
By Trinna Leong and Kimberly Yeo
The Malaysian Insider
June 24, 2013
Sibu and Bukit Rambai are the latest areas where the Air Pollution Index (API) has been flagged as unhealthy as the haze from Indonesia moves northwards.
With this, a total of 21 areas have been rated as unhealthy.
In the capital, Kuala Lumpur’s API increased to 198, just slightly short of the very unhealthy level. Many people are now wearing face masks. Petaling Jaya is almost as bad at 193.
Authorities told The Malaysian Insider that strong winds blowing towards the northeast from the southwest of Peninsular Malaysia means the haze is clearing up in Johor. Read the rest of this entry »
Haze (Smog) Causes Not Just Discomfort, It Kills
Posted by Kit in environment, Health on Monday, 24 June 2013
by Chee-khoon Chan
23rd June 2013
In 2002, Narayan Sastry, currently a professor of demography at the University of Michigan published a paper entitled “Forest Fires, Air Pollution, and Mortality in Southeast Asia” in the February 2002 issue of the journal Demography.
The smog of 1997 coincided with an El Niño year which intensified the seasonal mid-year drought. The land clearing and forest fires in that year burned an estimated 2-3% of Indonesian land area, mostly in Sumatra and Kalimantan but also affecting sizeable tracts in Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Java, Sumbawa, Komodo, Flores, Sumba, Timor, Wetar as well as areas in Sarawak and Brunei.
Sastry obtained daily mortality statistics from the Department of Statistics in Malaysia and correlated these with the daily Air Pollution Index (API) readings from the Malaysian Meteorological Department, in order to analyze the acute mortality in Kuching and Kuala Lumpur following upon days of high air pollution (defined as days when PM10 > 210 ug/m3). (The API is largely based on PM10, the concentration of suspended particulates of size 10 microns and below). Read the rest of this entry »
A hazy climate: Will anyone do the right thing?
Posted by Kit in environment on Monday, 24 June 2013
– Daniel Murdiyarso and Luca Tacconi
The Malaysian Insider
June 23, 2013
We write with a strong sense of déjà vu. Over 10 years ago, one of us published a letter in The Jakarta Post titled Fires: stop blaming others, just start acting! The cause of the haze that is affecting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore has not changed since then; it is clear: Plantation companies deliberately light fires in degraded peatland areas on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia.
They use fire because it is the cheapest way to clear land. But, in particularly dry years, the peat below ground also catches fire and it continues to smolder for months, generating thick and noxious haze. It can quickly cause headaches, nausea and respiratory problems, particularly in children and the elderly.
In that letter, we identified that fire was being used not only as a tool to clear land cheaply but also as a weapon to claim property ownership when Indonesia’s governance system was more centralized than it is today.
The recurrence of fire and trans-boundary haze was then, and remains today, not only a problem but also a symptom of complex governance issues. Read the rest of this entry »
With state of emergency declared for Muar and Ledang, and probably for Bukit Rambai and Malacca town with API 428 and 415 respectively at 11 am, time has come for Najib to fly to Jakarta for emergency meeting with Yudhoyono on haze
Posted by Kit in environment, Johore on Sunday, 23 June 2013
Having declared emergency status for Muar and Ledang because the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings there have reached the dangerous level of 746 at 7 am today, and probably also for Bukit Rambai and Malacca town with API 428 and 415 respectively at 11 am, the time has come for the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to fly to Jakarta for an emergency meeting with President Yudhoyono on the haze catastrophe choking millions of people in the three ASEAN countries of Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Top of his agenda with the Indonesian President must be the Indonesian ratification of the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution 2002 which provides for a ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan with provisions on monitoring, assessment, prevention, scientific research and technical co-operation as well as lines of communication and simplified customs and immigration procedures for disaster relief.
Although the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution have been ratified by nine ASEAN member states, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia has not ratified it. Read the rest of this entry »
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