Haze Problems – Time To Make Some Noise

I could smell the acrid burning smoke in the air last night. I thought it was because of the 7th Month burning offerings. I took a look outside but didn’t see much burning. I didn’t give much thought to that then. It was only this morning that I realised, from reading the Straits Times, that last night bad smell was due to the haze.

Will the haze ever go away or at least not reach Singapore? Not if we have people like Indonesian Forestry Minister, Mr M S Kaban, “handling” the problem.

Last month Kaban said the Indonesian government would only take firm action against those setting fires if flights were disrupted and protests erupted in neighbouring nations. He added that the haze problem was a “domestic affair” and “Why should we care about domestic affairs? Our international image is what's important.” When asked about his comments, he added, “Why are we ourselves making the noise? Even they (Singapore, Malaysia, other neighbours) are keeping quiet.”

Should we march to the Indonesian Embassy and burn their flag before it is considered as we are no longer “keeping quiet”? Come to think of it, if it is Singapore that is causing the haze, I am sure that’s what they will do. Not only that, probably they will also threaten to cut off our supplies or demand compensation.

During the 2006 haze situation, which according to economists Singapore suffered USD50,000,000 in economic loss, the same Mr M S Kaban said, “Our forests produce oxygen which makes the air cool for them (regional neighbours), but they have never been grateful."

After more than 10 years since our official “protest” letter in 1997, it is obvious that they are not treating this as a priority and they are incapable of or want to solve “their domestic affair.”

When Singapore tried to get help from the international community by raising this issue at the UN in 2006, Indonesia was extremely not pleased, to say the least.

Singapore will be “burning” SGD1,000,000 this year to help our “very grateful” neighbour in combating the haze problems.

Perhaps it is time for Indonesia’s neighbours (including Thailand and Philippines) to explore bringing this issue to the International Court of Justice.