Malaysian industries kill rivers so often like they are rehearsing for the real big one. On Saturday, it was the misfortune of Sungai Kabul, a river in Selangor, to be drowned in "foamy water and white substances". But what do our authorities say when rivers die under the weight of such industrial waste?
"Kita akan siasat" (We will investigate). Each time, every time, with clockwork regularity. What a "siasat" nation we have become. What's worse, the polluters know this.
Please, these are serial killers. They have to be put away. If rivers had a legal personality, like companies do, they would sue. But they don't. Perhaps rivers should be bestowed with one.
At least law reports will become more readable with Sungai Kabul v Foamy & White Substances Sdn Bhd filling their pages. That is a Leader for another time though.
For now, let's deal with the "siasat" syndrome. We have said this before, and we will say it again. Malaysia isn't short of laws, but what it is in need of are those with bite. Even the Selangor Water Management Authority (Luas) Enactment 1999 is so much more bark than bite.
Small wonder then polluters are turning into serial killers. Take Section 79(1) of the enactment. If convicted under the section, the polluter will be fined anything between RM200,000 and RM1 million and jailed for not less than three years. Is this a deterrent? Not to serial killers.
Hardcore polluters can only be put away with the heftiest of punishment. They can always earn the fines back by saving on equipment that stops effluent release. As for the mandatory jail term, the owner-polluter will find a way to have his factory manager do time on his behalf.
Expenses-paid holiday? It is loopholes such as these that Malaysia must plug. Our rivers are breeding grounds for polluters. Nothing short of getting them out of there will do.
There is another thing we can and must do. In June 2019, the Bar Council mooted the idea of making contamination of water sources a threat to national security and wellbeing. It called for urgency and utmost seriousness in dealing with pollution of such sources.
Three years have passed. Neither urgency nor seriousness has been shown, let alone utmost anything. What we get plenty of is "siasat" this and "siasat" that. And we are proud of it. From Kim Kim to Kabul, rivers are investigation-weary. So are the riverine communities.
The source is always the same: factories. If not located along the rivers — many are — they hire lorries to dump the waste in rivers some distance away.
Factories that are unable or unwilling to treat their waste must not be allowed to operate. Period.
We remind the authorities of the words of Article 5 of the Federal Constitution, as the Bar Council did in 2019: "No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with the law." If this reads like idealism writ large, here is the interpretation of Article 5 by a superior court in Tan Tek Seng v Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Pendidikan: right to life and liberty includes the right to live in a reasonably healthy and pollution-free environment. There you have it. There is nothing to "siasat" here. Just do it.