ISKANDAR PUTERI: The Federal Government should increase the penalty on water polluters to between RM5mil and RM10mil when amending the Environment Quality Act 1974, says a Johor executive councillor.
Tourism, environment, heritage and culture committee chairman K. Raven Kumar said culprits should also be jailed or forced to do community service to make up for any damage they wrought.
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“Only by introducing heavier penalties will these culprits be afraid and learn their lesson.
“A fine of RM100,000 or RM200,000 is nothing to them compared to the profits they make.
“The culprits should also be imprisoned or do community service (to see for themselves) the damage they have wrought and why it is important to protect our environment,” he said after a recycling-themed event here on Wednesday (Dec 6).
Raven had been asked to comment on Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change Minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad's statement that the government had filed an appeal over the punishment of two offenders in the 2019 Sungai Kim Kim pollution incident at Pasir Gudang.
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Raven, who is also the Johor river committee co-chairman, added that the state and Federal Government spent a lot of money fixing the damage there.
“What we want now is for the Federal Government to review the Environment Quality Act 1974.
“I believe that the (amendment) was brought up during a Parliament session back in 2020, and we hope there will be an update on it soon,” he added.
Earlier, Berita Harian quoted Nik Nazmi as saying that the Environment Department (DOE) had submitted an appeal to the Attorney General's Chambers (AGC) on the decision of the Johor Baru Sessions Court in the pollution incident.
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DOE said in a statement recently that a lorry driver was fined RM100,000 for causing pollution through the illegal disposal of scheduled waste in Sungai Kim Kim in 2019.
It added that P Tech Resources Sdn Bhd, which faced eight charges under the Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 2014, was also fined RM40,000 for each charge, for a total of RM320,000.
