Kuala Lumpur: Penangguhan pembayaran balik kini diperluaskan kepada mangsa yang terjejas akibat banjir di sepanjang sempadan Nepal-China, baru-baru ini, menurut Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).

Dalam satu kenyataan hari ini, bank pusat itu memaklumkan bahawa bank, pengendali insurans dan takaful (ITO) berkaitan telah menghubungi keluarga yang terjejas, berikutan pertemuan antara BNM dengan waris mangsa pada 12 Oktober 2026.

"Bergantung kepada keadaan khusus melibatkan keluarga yang terjejas, pihak bank dan ITO turut mempertimbangkan bantuan lanjut, seperti pengecualian bagi beberapa yuran dan caj, perlindungan aset dan deposit pelanggan, serta kemudahan urusan tuntutan insurans/takaful.

"Oleh itu, keluarga yang terjejas digalakkan terus berurusan secara langsung dengan bank dan ITO masing-masing.

"Sekiranya memerlukan bantuan lanjut dan penjelasan, mereka boleh menghubungi institusi kewangan masing-masing," menurut BNM.

Pada masa sama, BNM dan industri kewangan mengulangi kesediaan mereka untuk menghulurkan bantuan serta sokongan yang sewajarnya kepada keluarga mangsa, selaras dengan undang-undang dan keperluan kawal selia yang berkuat kuasa.

Menurut bank pusat itu lagi, ia akan terus memantau perkembangan semua usaha tersebut.

KUALA LUMPUR — The Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) has urged the grouping to accelerate its regional haze control centre to demonstrate collective commitment to tackling recurring transboundary haze pollution.

Warning that transboundary haze poses serious risks to public health and livelihoods, AICHR noted that the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) has maintained regional Alert Level 3, the highest transboundary haze alert, since August 26, 2026.

“The scale of exposure is severe,” AICHR said in a statement today, noting that unhealthy to hazardous air quality has disrupted education, livelihoods, daily activities, and is a serious health risk to vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, pregnant women, and those with pre-existing heart and lung conditions.

The regional haze control centre, or the Asean Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC) would show Asean’s commitment to its Transboundary Haze Pollution agreement, AICHR added.

The agreement, which came into force in 2003, remained ASEAN’s principal framework for preventing and mitigating transboundary haze through national action and regional cooperation.

Asean had also committed to a haze-free region by 2030, AICHR noted, as set out under the Second Roadmap on ASEAN Cooperation towards Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (2023–2030).

“The present situation underscores the importance of the full and effective implementation of these existing regional commitments,” it said.

The commission urged member states to strengthen information sharing and coordination, improve public access to air quality data and health advisories, and enforce environmental laws targeting activities that contribute to forest, peatland and agricultural fires.

It also called on businesses to adopt responsible environmental practices, including through environmental due diligence and sustainable supply chain management.

AICHR said climate-informed fire prevention and the sustainable management and restoration of peatlands were also crucial to reducing recurring fires.

It reaffirmed its commitment to protecting human rights across the region, calling on ASEAN member states to strengthen national and regional mechanisms and cooperation to protect communities affected by transboundary haze pollution.

Former Asean and APEC leaders have recently urged Asean to move beyond discussions and implement existing regional agreements to tackle the recurring transboundary haze crisis affecting Malaysia and Singapore.

The current haze pollution has been the result of land and peat fires in parts of Indonesia, which has been offered firefighting assistance by other countries, including Malaysia, but has yet to approve actual deployment as Jakarta said it is confident of its own capabilities to put out the infernos. – October 22, 2026

Commenting on the Singapore environment agency’s decision to issue notices to seven Indonesian companies to extinguish forest fires that have worsened air quality, AICHR Malaysia’s Edmund Bon said national measures were insufficient on their own.

Bon, a former AICHR chair, said there must also be transparency regarding company ownership and control, a fair investigation with due process, and protection for affected communities, including indigenous peoples and local communities.

“Malaysia supports a stronger Asean mechanism so that no country has to act alone,” he told FMT.

Bon, however, lamented that the existing Asean mechanisms, such as the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, have not been fully utilised.

Bon said that haze-related problems must be seen from a human rights lens.

Singapore’s focus on corporate accountability is consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require companies to respect human rights wherever they operate.

“The priority is to put out the fires, and people across the region must be able to breathe clean air,” Bon said, adding that the Asean Human Rights Declaration recognises the right to a safe, clean and sustainable environment.

The problem, therefore, could not be ignored and must be dealt with and managed.

“As long as countries act in good faith, respect each other’s legal processes and work through Asean mechanisms, these measures need not harm relations. They can even strengthen them by building a shared standard of accountability,” Bon said.

Earlier this month, in a statement, AICHR called on Asean member states to continue strengthening the implementation of environmental laws and policies addressing activities that contributed to agricultural land, peatland, and forest fires, including through environmental impact and risk assessments.

“AICHR calls on Asean member states to take all necessary measures to protect the human rights of those affected by transboundary haze pollution, including strengthening relevant national and regional institutions and mechanisms, and enhancing regional cooperation in addressing transboundary environmental impacts,” Bon added.

BANGKOK, Oct 23 — After months of fires in Indonesia that have caused thick regional haze, attention is turning to whether companies can be held accountable for the blazes and resulting air pollution.

Indonesia experiences fires regularly during its dry season, and experts say years of deforestation and the draining of peatland for cultivation have rendered previously fire-resistant landscapes vulnerable.

Driven by a strong El Nino cycle and resulting drought, this year’s blazes have been particularly severe, burning through nearly two million hectares, according to deforestation monitor Nusantara Atlas.

The fires have raged across forests and peatland but also palm oil and timber plantations supplying multinational firms.

Civil society groups have regularly accused companies of responsibility for the blazes, pointing to so-called “hotspots” in supplier plantations, sometimes called concessions.

Environmental group WALHI says it mapped “high confidence” hotspots across Indonesia using NASA fire data and found around 50 per cent were inside concessions.

In a report this month the group listed 40 timber and palm oil concessions by the number of hotspots detected.

“This is a structural issue... (that) happens because of the practices, the activities, of these companies,” WALHI forests and plantations campaigner Umi Ma’rufah told AFP.

Pressure is also coming from governments, including Singapore, which has issued 10 companies with “preventative measure notices” under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act.

The notices urge them to fight fires on their land, prevent burning and submit action plans. Firms can face legal action including fines if they do not comply.

“We must also be clear about where the responsibility for this lies,” Singapore Senior Minister K. Shanmugam told reporters.

“This was not simply an act of nature, but a problem driven by companies pursuing profits.”

Legal liability

Several companies implicated have insisted they are not behind the fires.

“Fires originating outside our boundaries subsequently spread into areas under the Group’s management,” Singapore Exchange-listed palm oil company First Resources said after one of its concessions was listed in WALHI’s report.

Asia Pulp and Paper, a Singapore-registered firm, also insisted that fires in supplier concessions do not “necessarily mean that land was deliberately burned or that the concession holder was responsible for starting the fire.”

Satellite monitoring can sometimes show where fires started, said Nusantara Atlas founder David Gaveau.

“In some cases, the satellite photos clearly show that fire starts inside, but we cannot say whether it’s by design or whether it’s accidental,” he told AFP.

“In other cases it’s also clear that fire started outside and spread inside the concession.”

Experts say fire has been used in the past to illegally open up land for cultivation, including in large concessions, but also by smaller-scale local investors.

Parts of Indonesia also previously allowed smallholders to use fire to clear plots of land, though this year the government has cracked down on that practice too.

Even if fires begin accidentally or outside concessions, firms may have legal responsibilities, explained Azam Hawari, a lawyer with environmental law NGO ClientEarth.

“An external source of ignition or extreme weather does not necessarily absolve a company of civil liability,” said Hawari.

Companies are required to have sufficient fire measures, including personnel and equipment, and could also be liable “where activities pose a serious threat to the environment,” like peatland drainage, he added.

International links 

Indonesia has announced “administrative sanctions” against dozens of firms and criminal proceedings against 125 individuals and corporations.

But campaigner Umi pointed out that some previously prosecuted firms have failed to pay fines or carry out forest restoration.

“It’s about the will from the government to really do their (enforcement) task,” she said.

Some implicated concessions have ties well behind Indonesia’s borders, said Holly Yang, an accounting professor at Singapore Management University who teaches sustainability reporting.

After WALHI’s report, she and her student Ashmit Bansal mapped concession holders, owners, creditors, investors and supply-chain partners.

“The fires occur in Indonesia, but the ownership, financing and commercial relationships extend across borders,” Yang told AFP.

Yang noted that a connection “does not, by itself, establish responsibility for a fire”.

But mapping relationships “allows the public to ask informed questions and assess how those parties respond”. — AFP