By Malai Hassan Othman
The Upper Temburong River. Brunei needs tough
environmental laws to protect its natural beauty from being
destroyed.
The introduction of comprehensive laws that would give
the relevant authorities more teeth in protecting Brunei's
environment against polluters including industrialists is
now in the offing.
According to officials, the relevant authority is now
stepping up the ongoing efforts to put in place this new set
of laws that would be crucial in the proper management of
the environment, especially in safeguarding the surroundings
against man-made destruction.
"The Second Inter-Departmental Consultative Workshop
on the Draft Environmental Order will take place tomorrow,
April 30, 2001," said Haji Mohd Zakaria bin Haji
Sarudin, Head of Environment Unit, in an interview with the
Borneo Bulletin.
"Efforts to formulate the nation's environmental
legislation started in 1996, when a legal specialist from
Canada was seconded to the Environment Unit to review the
existing laws in Brunei Darussalam under a technical
assistance programme with the Commonwealth.
"The review found that although the protection of
the environment was covered by various existing laws,
however these laws were sectional in nature. Some laws were
overlapping while others had gaps," said Haji Mohd
Zakaria.
According to Haji Mohd Zakaria, the specialist's report
had already been circulated to various relevant agencies and
the response was very positive.
"Following the report and various informal
discussions, we organised a workshop for the first time in
August last year to discuss the need for the new
environmental law. The workshop, The First
Inter-Departmental Consultative Workshop on the Draft
Environmental Order, was attended by agencies with varied
responsibilities for the environment."
"That workshop concluded that there was indeed a
pressing need for a new law for the environment and that a
draft text should be prepared.
"We sent a study team comprising of representatives
from our Unit, Fisheries Department, Attorney General's
Chamber and the Public Works Department to the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) office in Bangkok to
study the various national environmental laws available in
the region."
Haji Zakaria added, "This meeting tomorrow should
thrash out any remaining problems. If everything is in place
and all the issues addressed adequately, then we will submit
this to the National Committee on the Environment."
However he cautioned that an Environmental Law in itself
was not a foolproof solution to environmental problems.
"This law sets the definitions, standards and
guidelines for environmental protection, and outlines
punishments if the laws were to be breached. This law is
only to legislate against a minority who continually and
simply choose to disregard the safety of the general
public," he explained.
The Head of Environment Unit also expressed dismay at
some media attempts to give slanted reports on the status of
environmental legislation in the country.
Meanwhile independent observers are apparently upbeat
over the move to introduce comprehensive environmental laws
to Brunei Darussalam.
"This is a much welcome development. The rapid
development around us can easily spiral out of control and
harm the environment if there are no laws to protect
us," they observed.
They noted that despite the existing laws, it seems most
authorities that have the jurisdiction over these laws are
shy to enforce them and are pushing the buck to other
agencies that may not have any legislative authority to take
action.
"With the new law, we hope the relevant authorities
will take a firmer stand against offenders," they
added.
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