Anwar and old friend Al Gore reunite (virtually) to talk climate challenges, decades after ‘reformasi’
SERDANG, Sept 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today said he spoke with former US vice-president Al Gore about the global climate crisis, haze affecting Malaysia and the country’s transition towards cleaner energy.
Anwar said Gore, who was in Singapore, had expressed sympathy over the haze after the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading in Serian, Sarawak exceeded 500 two days ago.
“Former US vice-president Al Gore was in Singapore, and I had the opportunity to have a lengthy discussion with him about the environment and what is now referred to as the climate crisis,” he said in his speech at the closing ceremony of the Malaysia Agriculture, Horticulture and Agrotourism Exhibition here today.
Anwar said they also discussed the wider effects of climate change, including the recent floods in Nepal.
“Glacier ice from the Himalayan mountain range, which had remained firmly intact for thousands of years, melted into a massive valley in Nepal.
“This affects not only the people of Nepal, but also the people of Malaysia,” he said.
He said their discussion also touched on Malaysia’s commitment and ongoing efforts to accelerate the country’s energy transition away from fossil fuels towards cleaner and more sustainable energy sources.
“These are matters we cannot afford to forget; however, what we are capable of planning, we must execute,” Anwar said.
He also invited Gore to visit Malaysia soon to continue their discussions and explore closer cooperation on climate change and the country’s energy transition.
Gore, a prominent climate campaigner and founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, served as US vice-president from 1993 to 2001.
Anwar and Gore’s association dates back to 1998, when the American was US vice-president and Anwar was deputy prime minister before his dismissal from government and subsequent arrest.
During the 1998 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Kuala Lumpur, Gore publicly praised Malaysia’s reformasi movement, which had emerged following Anwar’s removal from office, prompting an angry response from the government of then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Separately, Anwar said he had declined an opportunity to meet former Indonesian president Joko Widodo, who is currently in Penang, due to his prior commitments in Kuala Lumpur today.
