KUALA LUMPUR: Environmentalists have called for the acceleration of the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, and emphasised the government's duty to safeguard human rights against business-related harm.
Malaysian Bar Council Environment and Climate Change Committee deputy chair Kiu Jia Yaw stressed the importance of ensuring access to remedies for individuals whose right to clean air and healthy rivers had been violated.
"This is a classic example of how businesses in Malaysia often escape civil liability for the harm they cause.
"It proves challenging for those who have suffered harm to identify responsible parties and seek accountability through a supportive legal system," said Kiu — who also serves as the co-chair of the Malaysian CSO-SDG Alliance — when commenting on the verdict by Johor Baru Sessions Court judge Datuk Che Wan Zaidi Che Wan Ibrahim, who fined a lorry driver a maximum of RM100,000 for the illegal disposal of scheduled waste in Sungai Kim Kim, Pasir Gudang, Johor, in 2019.
The sentence was handed down last Thursday after the accused, N. Maridass, pleaded guilty to the charges.
The Environment Department said in a statement that Maridass was found to have released oil sludge — a scheduled waste listed in the First Schedule of the Environmental Quality (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005 — into the river.
It said 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, making it a total of RM320,000, of which the maximum penalty should be RM500,000.
The cases against Maridass and P Tech Resources were tried together, and 38 witnesses were called to testify.
Regarding compensation for the victims, Kiu suggested that they pursue their own civil claims in court.
However, he questioned why they have faced challenges in bringing claims against the perpetrators, pointing to systemic gaps in access to justice in Malaysia.
"I believe this points to systemic gaps in access to justice in Malaysia, and they may not have had access to information regarding the state of the river.
"These challenges may include limited access to information about the river's state and the absence of specific civil procedure rules facilitating environmental cases," he said, adding that he wanted the government to develop dedicated rules of court for environmental claims to make it easier to bring cases such as these before civil court judges.
Echoing Kiu, the Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia president S. Piarapakaran also called for the setting up of a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), given the gravity and seriousness of the incident.
He insisted that the commission's report must be made public to ensure the involvement of all parties and suggested that the RCI have a mandate to investigate every party involved, including government agencies and former officers.
"The government needs to look into how to compensate the victims, as in one of the reports that was published, it is only looking at the primary classification of the pollutants, and some of these pollutants react and produce secondary pollutants.
"There should be an investigation to see how extensively people have been impacted… as we do not know how far these chemicals have travelled.
"It is better that the government form an RCI with the mandate to investigate every party involved."
When asked if the RM320,000 fine is sufficient, Piarapakaran deemed it inadequate given the extent of the damage.
Meanwhile, water quality and modelling specialist Dr Zaki Zainudin recommended substantial changes to prevent similar environmental crimes.
He proposed more frequent monitoring and "spot-checking" at industrial areas, especially during odd hours, as these were the times when illegal dumping and sewage discharges are more likely to occur.
"There should also be integration of pollution load control and Total Maximum Daily Load strategies into existing legal frameworks, enhancing accountability during industrial zone development.
"There is a need to have effective industrial zone management and planning, and it includes centralised industrial effluent treatment and pollution load control measures," he said.
Earlier, the Johor government said it would request the deputy public prosecutor to see if the fines meted out against the parties that caused the pollution incident in Sungai Kim Kim, Pasir Gudang, in 2019 were adequate or otherwise.
Johor River Task Force co-chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor said tackling river pollution was an important priority for the state government.
Jafni, who is also the chairman of the Johor Housing and Local Government Committee said that so far, 14 rivers in Johor were classified as Category 5, which is polluted, but Sungai Kim Kim was now classified as Category 3.
In 2019, the chemical waste pollution incident in Sungai Kim Kim on March 13, affected the health of over 2,000 people and led to the closure of 111 schools in Pasir Gudang.
