Haze has been quite an annual event that strike Malaysia, thanks to the seasonal burn off from Sumatra, Indonesia, its neighbouring country. Haze returns this year, at this similar period of time when the region experiences dry and hot season with little rain. However, it is not Malaysia that is hit hard by the haze this year. It’s Singapore now, a small island beneath peninsular Malaysia. Wind usually brought the smoke from Sumatra land to the middle of Peninsular Malaysia. However, for this time, the wind blows the haze towards the south, hence affecting badly Singapore and southern parts of Malaysia.
Pollution standard index (PSI) of Singapore has been reaching hazardous or very unhealthy level in these few days. By this morning, PSI of Singapore reached 401, the highest ever recorded for the island since September 1997 when it recorded 226. The current figure is almost double of the previous record. That’s very bad and serious. The haze must be very thick, the visibility must be very low, the air must be very smelly and choking. People in Singapore are now advised to stay indoors and to avoid going outdoor if necessary. The severe smog has continued to affect the developed country badly, which will inflict on huge losses in economy indirectly.
In regard to the worsening situation which is expected to last for at least few weeks, Singapore has pushed Indonesia to do something to tackle the haze which originated from the latter. However, Indonesia’s authority fights back and said that Singapore acted like a child, reporting that many companies that are responsible for land-clearing and open burning in Indonesia which contributed to the haze are from Malaysia and Singapore, and not from them. The blame has been fired back to us. I believe all the three involved countries should sit together and find an effective solution both in short-term and long-term to monitor the situation, enforce stricter laws on preventing pollution, so that haze will not be an issue in the region in future.
There is no point of fighting in words. It is the health of the people and the living quality of the environment that we should look into as priority. Even today, I noticed that haze starts to blanket over my city, Kuala Lumpur, which is few hundred kilometres away from Singapore. I started to smell something unpleasant from the air. This means that the haze now started to spread over the middle of Peninsular Malaysia too. Over 200 schools in Johor were ordered to close today, so that the children could stay at home, not exposed to dangerous air outside. Haze has been an every year’s gift from Indonesia for many decades, but still no ‘real’ action had been truly implemented to prevent it from further occurring.
Now, Singapore suffered seriously from the haze, and it made headlines in global news now. Previously, Malaysia had been hit hard by the haze in many years but receiving little international attention, while Singapore is always the least affected. Now, things turned the opposite way and yet Singapore’s haze is now on worldwide news. That’s the difference between Singapore and Malaysia, a developed nation and a only developing nation. I’m slightly off topic now. Sorry. The main issue now is that we want no more haze! That’s it. Haze has been the hot topic discussed now even on the internet. Interesting topic but of something which we don’t want.
Image source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2345093/Singapore-haze-2013-Residents-told-stay-indoors-possibly-WEEKS.html
Information source: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/21/world/asia/singapore-smoke-haze
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