Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said the Environment Quality Act 1974 was enacted by Parliament to ensure uniformity as it was applicable to all states.
“Hence, Sarawak, in wanting to manage its own environment, appears to negate the applicability of the Act on the state,” SAM president Meenakshi Raman said in a statement.
“Come August, the state’s environment department will be absorbed into the Natural Resources Environment Board set up under the Sarawak Natural Resources Environment Ordinance 1993.”
Meenakshi described this “wresting of control” over the environment by the state government as “most disconcerting”, saying this is especially when Sarawak’s law on environmental impact assessments (EIAs) is weaker than that in the peninsula.
“The Sarawak law on EIAs, unlike its federal counterpart, excludes the mandatory requirement for public participation and consultation over projects which have significant environmental impacts.
“It leaves the issue of consultations over the EIA to the discretion of individual project proponents, whose interests are self-serving, and contrary to public interest,” she said.
Meenakshi stressed that public participation, consultation and engagement are fundamental components of any EIA process, as they ensure that the principles of transparency and accountability are upheld to ensure good governance.
Thus, without this key component of public participation in decision-making incorporated into the Sarawak legislative process as regards EIAs, the right to a clean and healthy environment cannot be protected.
She said the federal government, in the balancing of federal-state relations, must not allow states to adopt weaker laws and rules.
“The federal government must clarify what steps it is taking to ensure that states like Sarawak do not depart from their obligations to ensure that all Malaysians are protected equally as regards environmental protection and climate change,” she said.
On March 5, Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg was reported to have said the federal government is giving back environmental autonomy to Sarawak, following negotiations on the Malaysia Agreement 1963.