Summary of the case

Afiq was a junior chemical engineer in XYZ Fertilizer Company Berhad located adjacent to Sungai Renggam in Perak. In a monthly operational meeting, the COO mentioned that the company was doing extremely well financially and had bright prospects. The plant director, Ken, started talking about the need to expand the existing manufacturing plant to accommodate the growing business. Afiq’s immediate superior, Matt, highlighted that the plant needed a proper waste treatment facility and he suggests that this facility could be included in the expansion plan. He mentioned that since the opening of the plant, XYZ had been releasing its waste materials into Sungai Renggam. They had also been secretly releasing ammonia and fluoride gases into the atmosphere which caused air pollution. Nobody took notice of this practice due to lack of monitoring and enforcement by local authorities as well as the apathy of the local community. Ironically, XYZ always stated in its annual report that the protection of the natural environment was its top priority.

The COO highlighted that XYZ would incur additional expenditure to build such a facility which would reduce its profitability. He claimed that since their current practices did not give XYZ any problems so they need not be ‘fixed’. He further argued that it was the government’s responsibility to overcome pollution problems.

Afiq was upset about the short-sighted views of the COO which would be harmful for XYZ’s business in the long run. He plans to highlight his concern to the chairman of XYZ who would be coming for a short visit. As a young person who believed in doing the right thing, Afiq was determined to risk his job and report wrongdoing to the local authority if XYZ failed to take action.