For how many years will polluters be put in jail?

How many years are the mega-polluters likely to go to jail for the havoc they caused in Johor recently? Maybe I shouldn’t talk about jail time. Will these polluters be arrested and charged in the first place?

In many aspects, despite our rapid development, this country is moving backwards instead of forward. I thought May 9 would have restored integrity and sanity to this nation. But this not to be; the baloney continues, one after another.

Yes, for insulting a religion one gets 10 years’ jail swiftly, but the polluters that caused schools to be closed and people hospitalised are still being “investigated”. Thus far, those responsible for environment and cleanliness at the federal, state and local levels have not made a whimper.

I don’t know, maybe they are too afraid or too “vested interest controlled” to look into this. Maybe they are too busy with their personal lives.

What has happened to the promises of a cleaner environment and a better quality of life? We still see hectares of land being burned to ashes.

We still see forest reserves being encroached so frequently. We still see toxic wastes being released into rivers and the atmosphere, causing irreparable damage to others. And we are still waiting to see how the problems in Lynas would be resolved.

Not only that, if we ever have two weeks of drought, the water level at our reservoirs and dams would inevitably go below the critical level. So much for our concern for natural resources and people’s livelihood.

Who would ever be bothered with water rationing except those living in low-cost flats? They can, after all, line up with pails for water trucks to come each day and carry the little precious water up the stairs, floor by floor.

Rights to safety and decent livelihood

I don’t know, maybe I am just not sophisticated enough. Instead of talking and debating about LBGT rights, women’s rights and the rights of religions not to be insulted, I would prefer we concentrate a little more on our children’s rights not be raped and murdered by the increasing number of deranged people in our society. I would prefer to talk about our rights to safety and decent livelihood.

Instead of talking hauntingly the ideals of democracy, free speech, constitutional rights and Malay agenda, I would prefer we concentrate a little more on the value of the ringgit, wages and employment, tax burden of the people, government spending that is people-centric, the handling of wastes and preservation of the environment.

To be honest, when Pakatan Harapan took over the federal government, I actually thought that the ringgit would strengthen, tax burden reduced, environment protection enhanced, crony interests diminished, national unity improved and religious bigotry lessened.

Sad to say, not only have I seen no improvement, in many aspects, they have become worse. - Mkini