Friday, September 2, 2022

Environmental laws outdated, penalties too low, says law minister

 

Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar says outdated legislation is a major factor contributing to the failure to handle illegal logging.  (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s environmental laws need to be amended as they are not in line with current developments while penalties under the relevant Acts are too low, says law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar.

He said the outdated legislation contributed to the failure to handle illegal logging.

The laws include the Environmental Quality Act 1974, the National Forestry Act 1984, the Civil Aviation Act 1969, and the National Land Code 1965.

Wan Junaidi said loopholes in the laws allowed certain parties to take advantage and destroy Malaysia’s forests to the point of disrupting the ecosystem.

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“For instance, there are many big companies involved in forest encroachment but the penalties under the current laws are still low and they (the companies) can pay them easily,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying in a report.

Wan Junaidi, who was the natural resources and environment minister from 2015 to 2018, pointed out that many of the environmental laws were enacted in the 1960s and 1970s, and did not detail the interpretations of encroachment and pollution.

In June, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob asked the legal affairs division of the Prime Minister’s Department’s to review 147 laws deemed obsolete as there was an immediate need for laws to keep up with the changing times.

Wan Junaidi said amendments to the environmental laws should take into account enforcement, interpretation of pollution and encroachment. - FMT

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