The people of Klang Valley have suffered multiple water cuts over the years due to unrepentant factories discharging pollutants into the river and the time has come to finally put an end to this.
Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim) is proposing an amendment to the Environmental Quality Act 1974 to greatly increase the punishment against polluters.
Under the current Act, anyone who discharges pollutants into inland waters is liable to a fine not exceeding RM10,000 or up to five years imprisonment or both.
Polluters are also liable to a fine of up to RM1,000 a day for every day that the offence is continued after a notice has been issued to them.
The call came amid a water cut in the Klang Valley after a factory was accused of discharging pollutants into the river.
Authorities said the latest incident which led to the shut down of four water treatment plants involved a repeat offender who was previously fined RM60,000.
Netizens have taken to social media to highlight the offending company's financial statement which showed tens of millions in assets that dwarfs the amount of the fine.
"Abim stresses that this is not the first time that an environmental incident has affected millions of residents.
"It has also repeatedly happened in other states. Therefore, long-term action is needed as a solution so that it does not recur.
"Among the calls has been to amend the Environmental Quality Act 1974. This includes a mandatory prison term and significantly higher fines against stubborn offenders," said Abim president Muhammad Faisal Abdul Aziz.
He urged the Environment and Water Ministry to follow through with a plan to amend the law within this year.
He also called for the details of all factories with a licence to be made public, on top of ensuring a proper consultation process is in place before the licence is granted.
The latest water disruption due to pollution on Sept 3 is the fourth one affecting Klang Valley since last year.
At least five incidents affecting the area have occurred since 2019.
In March, three water treatment plants were shut down due to a suspected oil spill around Bestari Jaya in Selangor.
In December last year, illegal waste dumping in Sungai Semenyih led to the closure of the Sungai Semenyih and Bukit Tampoi water treatment plants.
The Sungai Semenyih water treatment plant was also affected by separate incidents in September and June last year.
In July last year, more than one million households were affected when the Sungai Selangor 1, 2 and 3 water treatment plants had to be shut down, also due to river pollution.
Meanwhile, Klang MP Charles Santiago urged Environment and Water Minister Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man to invoke the Water Services Industries Act 2006 which provides for steeper punishment.
The former National Water Services Commission (Span) chairperson said the law carries a fine of up to RM500,000, or ten-year imprisonment, or three strokes of the cane, or all three against offenders.
"The government must bring charges against the company within the next month to show it takes this matter seriously.
"Or Tuan Ibrahim must resign as the environment and water minister," he said in a statement.
Charles said the government must send a strong message or companies will not stop polluting rivers and water sources.
Former minister Rafidah Aziz also wants to see more serious action taken to address the repeated incidents.
She said by now, there should already be a taskforce involving both the state and federal governments to monitor the waterways.
The veteran politician added that stiffer and deterrent penalties against offenders are needed to curb the problem.
Rafidah said all loopholes should be plugged.
"So many things have become polluted, and even toxic, in our beloved Malaysia.
"Politics, governance, the environment, the water we drink (and pay for)," she said in a Facebook statement. - Mkini
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