About the haze in the Klang Valley areas.
Heard that a state of emergency has been declared in Klang (the biggest port in Malaysia) and Kuala Selangor (not KL) already - their API (PSI in Singapore) has reached hazardous levels - above 500. KL and Putrajaya isn't doing very well also - something like 350 - 400 or so. Don't think we've ever heard of such a severe haze ever since 1997.
Btw, half of my maternal relatives stay in KL and its surrounding areas, like Bangsar and Petaling Jaya. Hope that everything is ok there; especially my maternal grandmother.
The thing I'm concerned about is that I'm sure everybody in KL would be cursing a neighbouring country for creating this mess. That's fine enough; but I'm not too sure how wise is it for the newspaper editorials to (IMO), trying to play up / fan sentiments of discontent.
With statements such as this:
"Malaysia, Asean and the international community must be firm and tell Indonesia that what is happening is unacceptable. Apologising for the haze is not good enough. Nobody is picking a quarrel or fight with Jakarta but it is its responsibility to ensure that whatever happens in Indonesia does not cause injury to its neighbours."
At least it does acknowledge that there are Malaysian firms in Kalimantan and Sumatra who are contributing to the haze also.
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/8/12/nation/11748888&sec=nation
And I might be going a bit overboard by saying this, but I'm not quite sure what declaring an "emergency" exactly entails. Public safety is important of course, but I don't think it is wise if they are doing it at the expense of civil liberties, if it is being compromised here.
Was reading some blogs set up to talk about the haze.... it's quite disappointing that people are confusing two things all together with stuff like this:
"Hey Pak Lah, who voted you in? The rakyat or the bloody immigrants?"
(Pak Lah is Abdulah Badawi's "informal" name, rakyat refers to the public)
But I think it ain't easy not to feel pissed about this whole thing; all 10 ASEAN countries signed the Agreement of Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002. I'm not bothered to read through the treaty and see whether it provides for enforcement or it is a mere declaration (I have read enough of those in Global Governance already); but it's starting to be something that is recurring every year. And personally, I don't think it's fair on us to be paying to help clean up the fires over there.