No one minister can claim credit for the return of plastic waste illegally brought into Malaysia, said a statement issued in the name of the Environment Ministry.
The statement was in response to Subang Jaya assemblyperson Michelle Ng who had credited former minister Yeo Bee Yin (photo) for organising the repatriation of plastic waste, which mostly originated from Europe.
"No one minister can claim credit as it's the collective action of the public service across several agencies headed by different ministers that facilitated sending back illegal plastic waste to the country of origin.
"This inter-agency collaboration will have to continue regardless who the minister is. As per the Basel Convention and prevailing domestic laws, there are already mechanisms to send plastic waste back to the country of origin.
"Nevertheless, Tuan Ibrahim appreciates the efforts of Yeo in spearheading this initiative with cooperation from other agencies when she was in office," it said.
On Wednesday, newly-appointed Environment Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (photo) announced that 150 containers of plastic waste had been shipped back to their country of origin with another 84 more to go.
The ministry said Tuan Ibrahim will ensure continuity of policies.
"In response to Ng's comment in The Sun Daily that Yeo started the system to return plastic waste, Tuan Ibrahim had made it clear from day one in office that he will continue and improve all the good initiatives of the previous government to ensure continuity of policies.
"This includes sending back illegal plastic waste to its country of origin.
"Tuan Ibrahim stressed that ministers come and go but the civil service has the mechanisms in place to ensure all planned initiatives go on to ensure delivery to the rakyat is not interrupted," he said.
The new Perikatan Nasional cabinet was sworn in on Tuesday.
The assembling of the new cabinet came two weeks after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government.
Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin had taken his party out of Harapan and formed the new government in cooperation with PKR defectors, BN, PAS, GPS and other minor parties.
Muhyiddin was sworn in as the new prime minister on March 1.
This came amid a split between Bersatu chairperson and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. - Mkini
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