Haze has been a "burning" issue in Malaysia every now and then. It has been so not just for Malaysia, but Southeast Asia.
Occasionally, the haze engulfs Asia. The cause is almost always human in origin. But Malaysia has a problem: the fires are burning in Indonesia. Transboundary haze is one hard nut to crack, not just for Malaysia but for Indonesia, too.
Land, both cultivated and uncultivated, on which fires burn is huge. Fires don't just burn in a patch or two. They originate in many parts of Indonesia.
Many Malaysians who are old enough to remember will recall the year 2015 when Indonesia experienced the largest fire catastrophe in modern history.
According to a news portal published by the University of Minnesota, 2.5 million hectares of tropical landscape were engulfed in fire, spreading haze to almost all of Asia.
In the estimate of the news portal, the fire emitted more greenhouse gas than all of Germany in a year. Add to this the toxic particulates that tens of millions of Asians were breathing in.
Deaths followed and public health bills spiked, two good reasons for the government of Indonesia to act.
Countries within the reach of the haze were blessed. Indonesia had a new president in the form of Joko Widodo, a man who understands his forests. He is a forestry graduate. Things did change in that year with the president taking quick action. But Indonesia is a sprawling nation with forests and plantations everywhere. Too huge for one man and his team.
The return of the haze tells us he and his team need help. Joko may know his forests, but not all of Indonesia's land. There, it is hard to tell who owns which land. Owners burn and get away with it.
Indonesia's land management system — a complex one at that — needs more fixing to put a stop to the burn-and-run escape route.
Environmentalists have rightly called for a cross-agency map of land concessions. Such a map will help establish haze accountability. Until then destructive practices of land use will continue.
Judging by the warning issued to Malaysian companies operating there — owners of timber concessions and plantations — not to be part of the haze problem, our local entities may be involved. These are easily controlled in two ways: one by Indonesian law and the other by Malaysian law.
We don't have a law that has extraterritorial reach where companies' destructive practices outside of Malaysia are concerned, except for corrupt practices.
Lawyers who disagree with this view say there is one in the form of Section 3(2) Companies Act, but this legislation is limited to competition from elsewhere and its effect on the market here.
Destructive practices of Malaysian companies outside of the country are left untouched. Malaysia must pass such a law to show its seriousness in protecting the environment no matter where it is located.
True, Malaysian corporate culprits are few, if any. But to use that as an argument to not get such an extraterritorial legislation passed is to misunderstand its purpose. Such a law is not just to tackle the problem of today but also the issues we will face in the future.
This is one way Malaysia can help Indonesia put out the fires there. The rest is for Indonesia to do.