Court action planned against Malaysian plantation owners

15/08/2005 - 07:15:38
Authorities in central Malaysia plan to take legal action against oil palm plantation owners who burned agricultural waste, defying a ban that was installed to ease the choking smog caused by fires in Indonesia.

Selangor state chief minister Mohamad Khir Toyo criticised the owners of five plantations who flouted the open burning ban and said the Department of the Environment was preparing a case against the offenders.

Meanwhile, a team of 125 Malaysian firefighters and disaster management experts are leaving for Indonesia’s Sumatra island to help put out the raging forest fires responsible for acrid smoke that has enveloped much of Malaysia since the beginning of August.