AS the Asean official in charge of drafting and implementing the 2005 Asean Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER), it distresses me to ask my own country this question 16 years later.
Is it any surprise that Malaysia is the only country in Asean that does not have a dedicated disaster management law?
Brunei (Emergency Regulations Act), Cambodia (Disaster Management Law), Indonesia (Disaster Management Law), Laos (Red Cross Law), Myanmar (Natural Disaster Management Act), the Philippines (Disaster Risk and Management Act), Singapore (Civil Defence Act), Thailand (Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Act) and Vietnam (Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control) all have dedicated and comprehensive laws on disaster management.
But Malaysia relies on its colonial 1951 Civil Defence Force Act, which is primarily for the establishment of the civil defence force (basically for rescue work), but is woefully inadequate to meet the ever increasing multi-faceted challenges of disaster management requiring multiple actors.
When AADMER was adopted by Asean in 2005, it was hailed as the most comprehensive legal instrument on disaster management in the world.
The agreement essentially transcribed the policy prescriptions of the 2005 Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) into a regional legal instrument.
Soon after the devastating December 2004 tsunami, the world community met at the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in January 2005 to chart a new comprehensive framework for disaster risk reduction, which resulted in the HFA.
One should read the AADMER to better understand what a comprehensive national law on disaster management should contain. Disaster management is a yearlong mutually reinforcing process covering five key areas: disaster risk identification, assessment and monitoring; disaster prevention and mitigation; disaster preparedness; emergency response; and, rehabilitation.
Since its adoption, several standard operating procedures had been developed and annexed as part of the agreement. Annual field exercises simulating various complex disasters were conducted involving countries within and outside the region, relief agencies and civil society to ensure preparedness at all times for any disaster.
The Asean Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance on disaster management provides operational support 24/7 to member states in disaster relief and assistance.
The agreement itself places obligations on member states to incorporate the relevant functions in their national disaster management laws to ensure uniformity and effectiveness.
I would say all the other member states have incorporated that in their national laws and subsidiary legislation as mentioned above.
To illustrate the necessity for a legal framework, let me cite two examples. On emergency response (Article 10), one key aspect is civil-military coordination.
In any emergency response, it is the civilian agencies which will be the first responders, but the military will automatically take command once a disaster has reached a critical level. The SOP will contain the trigger points and the command structure.
If this is legislated as law, then the involvement of the military or other security apparatus need not wait for the National Disaster Management Agency, the prime minister or the relevant minister to issue the command.
The armed forced and police are trained precisely to handle disaster and crisis situations and they have ample human skills and assets which could have been deployed within hours before the floods start to escalate.
The Standby Arrangements (Article 9) requires member states to earmark assets and capabilities that can be readily deployed during a disaster.
These would include equipment like boats, rescue operations personnel, medical services, food and basic necessities. In terms of food supplies, there is ample available within the vicinity, but all businesses were shut down, resulting in looting.
Through a legal framework, the government could make pre-arrangements for shops to supply food and basic necessities for a reasonable compensation.
Time is of the essence. The government should not be handing out food packages and relief aid at a ceremony days after the disaster.
It is stomach wrenching that people can go hungry for days simply because of poor planning and preparedness. Each time the government announces millions in aid, one wonders how much reaches the people and on time.
In short, the government can easily use the AADMER to establish a national law on disaster management. Ministers and government officials have been involved in Asean disaster management initiatives and activities and yet they don't see the need to emulate it nationally.
Prevention (Article 10) is the best remedy to prevent disasters. In this case, it would relate to environmental and forestry laws. Forests prevent climate change by acting as carbon sinks and prevent floods as a natural sponge and reservoir.
Yet, lately, we have seen massive destruction of forests in the country. I have written about the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve issue in Selangor and the need to designate it a national park under the National Parks Act to offer permanent protection.
I have also called out an attempt to tamper with the draft Shah Alam Local Plan 2035 to convert a large natural green lung in Section U9 into mixed development.
Imagine if the state government had gone ahead with its plan to convert about 1,000ha of the Kuala Langat North Forest Reserve low-lying peatland swamp into a concrete jungle. That will be another Taman Sri Muda in the making.
Disasters cause the most damage to any nation. It is essential to have a comprehensive national legal framework to manage disasters.
Can the government and opposition collaborate under their memorandum of understanding to pass a disaster management law in Parliament? The national bill can be easily drafted based on the AADMER, which Malaysia has adopted.
The government should organise nation- and state-wide consultation with the people, civil society and businesses to take ownership of the disaster management bill.
As the victims and first responders, they know best how to manage a disaster. We need to reverse this paradigm of people and civil society being the first responders to disasters and the government last.
The writer was director of environment and conservation at the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry (1993-2000) and head of environment, haze and disaster management at the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta (2000-2014).
Email: raman.asean@gmail.com