Greenpeace unfolds giant “Vote4Climate” banner at Dataran Merdeka

Volunteers and activists from Greenpeace Malaysia unfolded a giant banner to convey an important message to the country’s future leaders. The 30m x 30m banner that read, “Vote4Climate” and “Undi Iklim” was unfolded at historic Dataran Merdeka on November 14 ahead of the 15th General Election (GE15). It was a last-minute appeal to fellow voters to elect politicians who prioritise the climate agenda.

Greenpeace noted that environmental protection in Malaysia is still weak, given that top experts believe we have fewer than ten years to stop the worst effects of climate change.

Greenpeace Malaysia, as a member of the Gabungan Darurat Iklim Malaysia (GDIMY) committee, focused on environmental research in the Malaysian political realm through the #UndiIklim campaign. One of the campaign research areas was on what members of parliament (MP) said about environmental issues in parliament. The study was based on the parliamentary Hansard for the four years starting in 2018, which included lawmakers from all political parties.

According to the research, representatives have barely scratched the surface on environmental issues with only 8.4% (1,634) of the 19,401 questions in parliament containing environmental-related keywords.

The research added that the term “climate change” or “perubahan iklim” was mentioned less than 0.3% (55) of the time. ‘Flood’ or ‘banjir‘ was the third most mentioned keyword in the findings, with 350 questions mentioning ‘flood’ raised by MPs. It is, however, concerning that flooding was rarely linked to climate change. Only 16 (4.6%) of the 350 questions mentioning ‘flood’ also mentioned ‘climate change.’

“The climate crisis that continues to ravage the most vulnerable sectors of the region and its people through typhoons, floods and extreme heat waves, has taken away our choice of thriving and thrown us all into the beginnings of survival mode. However, as voters, we have the power to change this by making an informed decision to vote for climate action.” Greenpeace Malaysia Public Engagement Campaigner, Nur Sakeenah Omar said in a statement.

The Greenpeace action took place as Malaysian representatives are attending the UN Climate Conference of Parties (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. Malaysia, with its largest delegation to date, hopes to focus its efforts on adaptation, climate finance, and local climate solutions.

According to Greenpeace, Malaysia’s climate plan continues to be an ad hoc patchwork of laws and regulations that seem hasty and centred on adaptation rather than prevention through mitigation.

“Our climate change agenda is fragmented, environmental governance has been divided into different ministries. We need a legislative framework under a Climate Change Act for a Minister consolidating all relevant departments to be responsible for a holistic and comprehensive Climate Change Agenda that will cover both green (concerning biodiversity such as forestry) and brown issues (concerning human health such as air pollution) as well as Climate Change policies, such as, carbon tax, renewable energy.” “Thing Siew Shuen, Greenpeace Malaysia Senior Programme Manager said.

Siew Shuen added that Malaysia requires systemic solutions to address recurring floods since people are becoming increasingly vulnerable, putting their lives and property at risk with each passing year.

“With the worsening effects of the climate crisis, we demand all political parties to take immediate action by including a Climate Change Act, Transboundary Haze Pollution or Clean Air Act, and the revising of our 1974 Environmental Quality Act into their election manifesto” Siew Shuen said while emphasising that elected representatives must prioritise the development and implementation of these three Acts in order to make Malaysia safer, greener, and more resilient.

“We also urge the rakyat to vote for representatives who make commitments to environmental protection, and continue to join Greenpeace to pursue and demand the elected representatives to materialise their promises to safeguard our environment after the election.” Siew Shuen added.