The Haze Is Still Around

Another Haze Meeting by Asean Government, but the Haze is still here !

For many years our Asean government representatives have been meeting to discuss on the haze issue cause by Indonesia forest fire. Yet every year, we still have the haze ‘season’.

It is reported again in the media that members of ASEAN have agreed to hold a haze prevention forum annually to address the problem of land and forest fires. What is ‘new’ this time is that Singapore introduced the forum this year, bring together heads of local governments and international non-government organizations to share best practices in preventing haze.

Suffering citizens of ASEAN countries need strong legal action by ASEAN government against erring country and/or plantation owners, not just best practices. What we want is concrete action and not just talk year after year. The government of various nations is aware of the enormous health and economic impact of the haze and yet they let their citizens endure the haze for years.

To read that Singapore is taking the lead in the matter is an irony. It has just been reported that our government will not be one of the signatories to reduce global carbon emission.

One of the reasons given is that the scientific evidence of global warming due to carbon emission is not conclusive.

Is not the annual haze in Singapore evident of carbon emission causing global warming ? The temperature rises to uncomfortable level every year during the haze season due to forest fire in Indonesia, which releases tons of carbon dioxide. We experience it physically. We do not need rocket science to prove it.