The Haze Saga......continues....
For those who can read Chinese, the article below helps shed light on why this haze problem has been allowed to drag on for years despite rearing its ugly head more than twenty years ago!!! I recalled the first incidence of it being mentioned in the media...which is in the year 1994...GASP! ere you even born then? The egg or sperm that led to your eventual conception was probably not even in existence then! You dad prob haven't even met ur mum at that time! And after all this time, the haze is still there -- a yearly affair t come to taunt and haunt us, adding to the already irritating fumes caused by the burning of incense paper and joss sticks during the Hungry Ghost Festival!
And the root cause is the location of the forest fires.....if they had been near Jakarta, the Capital City, or even on Java iself, I'm quite sure it would have been swiftly snuffed out....but the fires have to be on the mostly less developed areas in Sumatra, where the people are less rich and hence less influential? There is thus no urgent pressure on the central govt in Jakarta to resolve th issue swiftly....Why do so when there are still blue skies in Jakarta? IT helps that those people with influence capable of making noise and pressuring the govt are mostly not on the less developed Sumatra....Add on the vested interest of pleasing the foreign MNCs and the haze is free to thrive with impunity! Being the largest country in Southeast Asia and one of the most populous countries in the world, not to mention one of the largest economies, Some Indonesian leaders feel that they don't owe the smaller neighbouring countries an apology or even an explanation....One of them even likens Singapore' yearly protests on the haze as those of a child making noises when it can't get sweets.....something like that...this not his actual words hor...go google yourself.....
This explains the siege mentality Singapore suffers from....Our geographical position has done wonders for us (think our hub and port status), but is also a curse in itself as we are surrounded by bigger neighbours who may not always be sympathetic to our plight...
And the root cause is the location of the forest fires.....if they had been near Jakarta, the Capital City, or even on Java iself, I'm quite sure it would have been swiftly snuffed out....but the fires have to be on the mostly less developed areas in Sumatra, where the people are less rich and hence less influential? There is thus no urgent pressure on the central govt in Jakarta to resolve th issue swiftly....Why do so when there are still blue skies in Jakarta? IT helps that those people with influence capable of making noise and pressuring the govt are mostly not on the less developed Sumatra....Add on the vested interest of pleasing the foreign MNCs and the haze is free to thrive with impunity! Being the largest country in Southeast Asia and one of the most populous countries in the world, not to mention one of the largest economies, Some Indonesian leaders feel that they don't owe the smaller neighbouring countries an apology or even an explanation....One of them even likens Singapore' yearly protests on the haze as those of a child making noises when it can't get sweets.....something like that...this not his actual words hor...go google yourself.....
This explains the siege mentality Singapore suffers from....Our geographical position has done wonders for us (think our hub and port status), but is also a curse in itself as we are surrounded by bigger neighbours who may not always be sympathetic to our plight...
posted by Dark Shadow | 12:21 PM
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