Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman has defended his call for Asean to boycott Indonesia over recurring transboundary haze, insisting the issue should not be turned into a dispute between the two countries.
“This is not Malaysia versus Indonesia. Our flags are different, but when we struggle to breathe, the suffering is the same,” he said.
He was responding to criticism from former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi, who accused him of using the haze crisis for cheap political publicity.
Syed Saddiq said action should instead be based on evidence, with any company proven to have caused forest fires held accountable under Indonesian law, regardless of whether it was Malaysian, Indonesian or Singaporean.
“I will not protect polluters, even if they are from my own country. Do not choose sides based on whether a company is Malaysian, Indonesian or Singaporean. If they are proven to have burned forests for quick profits, take action,” he said in a video posted on social media today.
He also stressed that owning large plantations did not, by itself, prove a company’s involvement in forest fires.
Addressing allegations involving SG Guthrie, Syed Saddiq claimed there was no evidence so far that the company had caused the fires.
He said the company had deployed 67 teams comprising more than 1,000 trained personnel, along with drones and infrared equipment, to tackle the problem, at a monthly cost exceeding RM800,000.
He also cited a Greenpeace report which, he said, recorded 19 haze source points within Kuala Lumpur Kepong (KLK)’s concessions, compared with 6,811 other points.
Syed Saddiq further claimed Malaysia had offered to help Indonesia fight the forest fires by providing aircraft, three helicopters and personnel, but had received no response.
Lutfi, meanwhile, had criticised the proposed Asean boycott, arguing that the haze crisis should not be exploited for political publicity. He also highlighted the Indonesian firefighters who had died battling the blazes and the hundreds of thousands of Indonesians exposed to the smoke.
Syed Saddiq proposed the boycott while debating the 2027 Budget, urging Asean countries to take stronger action against recurring haze, including cutting funding to companies linked to open burning and encouraging consumers to put pressure on businesses involved.
“You must treat them as parties to be boycotted in this region,” he said.
