Youth Parliament proposes Act to administer impact audits on environment

The proposal was submitted by the Committee of Infrastructure, Development and Environment, which pointed out that this Act was necessary in order to avoid natural disasters caused by uncontrolled development.

Kuala Lumpur representative, Mohd Ar Rahman Hussin said the Act was also to monitor the impact on the quality of the environment after a development order had been approved.

"Most of the natural disasters that have happened in the past such as landslides at Bukit Antarabangsa, mudslides in Cameron Highlands and flash floods in the capital were a result of uncontrolled development and occurred after a development project had begun.

"This Act may put high guidelines before allowing any activity having an impact against the quality of the environment to be carried out," he said at the second Youth Parliament sitting, held at the Parliament House here yesterday.

Ar Rahman also proposed that a commission appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong be set up to monitor and evaluate development projects that had an impact on the environment.

"The commission should have the power to evaluate and prosecute anyone found in violation of the regulations on the quality of the environment in their development projects," he said.

Sabah representative, Noralizawati Matsam when debating the motion, said through the commission, all parties could work together in a transparent manner to conduct an investigation before a development project involving the environement was carried out.

"This investigation needs to be done before a project is carried out in order to avoid any occurrence of natural disasters such as flash floods and landslides over and over," she said.

Kuala Lumpur representative, K. Mark Yogaraj said if such a commission was formed, its advantage would be that appointed officials could conduct investigations and studies independently, without any interference from outside parties, such as the state government.

"If a study and investigation is completed, they can send the report directly to the office of the Auditor-General, besides helping to ease the burden of the state government in terms of dealing with environmental problems in their area," he said.

Meanwhile, the Youth Parliament also urged the government not to implement the extension of the retirement age of civil servants to 62 years for fear that it would lead to unemployment among young people, especially university graduates.

The motion proposed by the Committee for Education and Career had been approved unanimously by the members of the Dewan.

Terengganu representative Nur Azianti Ahmad Razif when tabling the motion, said this would cause young professionals to work abroad because of difficulties in obtaining employment in the public sector due to the shortage of employment opportunities if the retirement age was to be extended.

For Johor representative, Mohammad Hasyiq Hamdan, civil servants' health factors should be taken into account in not extending the retirement age up to 62 years.

"Problems in hearing, sight and body weakness are often experienced by civil servants who are elderly, causing the government to incur high medical costs," he said.