Sky cleared!
Oct 26th, 2006 by Tian
It’s a pleasant surprise today. We finally see blue sky and bright sun this morning. The atmosphere has been clearing since the first day of Hari Raya. However, today the weather is the clearest since the haze attack. Hopefully it will stay that way.
As we are enjoying nice air again, the authorities can now relax, waiting for the next haze season. I remember in 1997, it was the first time Southeast Asia encountered a haze crisis. Wild fire was raging throughout Indonesia. The public was angry, and frightened by the health hazards. The Malaysian government first acted in denial. The press was not allowed to publish API and negative reports on the haze. Two university academicians were even threatened with ISA for speaking on health implications of the haze.
A few of us NGO activists formed a small group called ourselves “KUBUR†(Kempen Udara Bersih Untuk Rakyat). We put on masks and went to demonstrate in Dataran Merdeka to call on government attention to the health problems of the haze. The FRU acted promptly to disperse our peaceful gathering.
The seriousness of the fire and smoke drew international alert. Southeast Asian governments were under pressure to resolve the crisis. ASEAN finally came out with some sort of action plan and many documents were adopted.
Yet, year after year, the plan to mitigate the haze and fire remains on paper. We have suffered nearly a decade of smoke and the authorities are expecting people to become accustomed to the hazards. Every year, the governments of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore keep the people literally in the dark.
When the haze first recurred this year, the officials were talking about demanding Indonesia to stop the fire, to sign some convention, and even to sue the Indonesian government or companies. All these have now disappeared with the smoke.
In fact, all governments realized the real cause of the problem, yet are unwilling to implement the solution. Despite a lot of finger pointing, they are protecting each other because of huge profits involved. I believe plantations that are engaging in “slash and burn†include Indonesian, Malaysian and Singaporean. Nobody is prepared to forsake their profit for ecology.
They will continue to burn. We may be grateful that the haze is gone for now, but next year fire will burn again. Malaysian government will again pray for the wind and the rain. But this time, hopefully, BN should also pray that the people don’t run out of patience.
Here are a few pictures which I took in Sentul on the first day of haze, October 4 this year. Hope they remind us the need for action. Let’s not wait for next year.
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