Environment and Water Ministry gets new muscle to fight polluters
by BY R. LOHESWARPUTRAJAYA, Sept 14 — The federal government is setting up a new enforcement unit tasked with preventing environmental crimes, minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man announced today.
He said the environmental crime prevention unit will be parked under his Ministry of Environment and Water (MEWA) starting October.
He said the national unit is necessary due to the many pollution cases, including sabotage, of the country’s water reserves.
The latest episode was the recent pollution of Sungai Gong, one of the river tributaries that supplies raw water to Selangor and which forced the closure of four treatment plants, disrupting piped water supply to over 1.2 million households in the Klang Valley earlier this month.
“Despite the various agencies’ best efforts there are complex issues that we need to address concerning protecting the environment.
“The enforcement operations need structural changes and a more comprehensive approach and it needs to happen immediately.
“The enforcement agencies need support in the form of logistics, forensic and investigative experience, more strength in numbers and better rules and regulations,” Tuan Ibrahim told reporters here.
He had earlier participated in a meeting with representatives from the National Water Services Commission, Department of Environment, the Department of Biosafety and the police.
Tuan Ibrahim said the new unit’s scope covers crimes against the environment nationwide, and not just in the Klang Valley.
He said he doesn’t know yet how large the unit will be, adding that operations will be on a case-by-case basis.
Tuan Ibrahim also said his ministry is also looking to update several laws on environment offences for heftier fines against the offenders.
“We've also proposed to give powers to the police to use the Environmental Quality Act 1974 and Industrial Water Services Act 2006 against any perpetrators,” he added.