Chin backs Bishop over haze policy

KUCHING: Political analyst Prof James Chin has backed Anglican Bishop of Kuching Rt Rev Datuk Danald Jute’s criticism of what he described as a geographical double standard in the federal government’s response to haze affecting schools.

Chin said Jute was right to question why the Education Ministry had lowered the Air Pollutant Index (API) threshold for school closures from 200 to 180 only after haze conditions began affecting Malaya.

Chin said the issue reflected what he described as a broader tendency to treat Sabah and Sarawak as “afterthoughts”.

“So the Bishop is right. In their eyes, lives in the colonies count for less than lives in the master land,” he said in a Facebook post today.

Chin

Chin was responding to Jute’s statement welcoming the Education Ministry’s decision to lower the closure threshold, but questioning why children and education personnel in East Malaysia had previously been expected to endure haze under the higher API 200 threshold.

Jute, who is the president of the Mission Schools Management Board, said children in Kuching, Miri, Kota Kinabalu, Johor and Kuala Lumpur should receive the same level of protection regardless of where they lived.

He also linked the issue to Sabah’s constitutional 40 per cent revenue entitlement, historical grievances and the debate over parliamentary representation.

Chin further criticised Project Stability and Accountability for Malaysia (Project SAMA), a civil society initiative focused on institutional and governance reforms, alleging that it and other organisations were lecturing Sabahans and Sarawakians on what was “good” for them and why they did not need the additional parliamentary seats.

“They do not ask. They instruct. That is colonial mentality, plain and simple,” he said.

The Education Ministry announced on Thursday that schools and educational institutions under its jurisdiction in areas recording API readings above 180 must close, effective Friday, following concerns raised by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Ibrahim over students’ health and safety.

Areas recording API above 150 continuously for three days must also close from Oct 12.

As of Oct 9, however, school operations in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan were continuing as usual, with the Education Ministry instructing state education departments and district education offices to continue monitoring haze conditions.