Wednesday, August 10, 2005

OMG, Haze!!!

Okay, I am not affected here. Here I am sitting in my dark room listening to Turin Brakes, with the window open and the cool dark summer air of London blowing in and I am blogging about some haze. Pollution is almost nil here (apart from the London Underground which is worse than haze).

'Haze!' was part of the headline on many Malaysian bloggers on the PetalingStreet.org database. Many has sought to comfort themselves by blaming that other country (Indonesia). I swear I can smell the burning ashes through my monitor while reading the many PPS pings.

While true enough that the haze, currently being experienced by lucky and affluent Malaysians, originated from that other country; are we forgetting what happened in 2003 when a Malaysian company was found guilty of allowing fires to start at its plantations in Riau circa 1999/2000?

Guess not.

Of course it is possible that no Malaysian companies were involved this time round, but I find that excruciatingly hard to believe. Since when did we have innocent companies who operate out of a goodwill heart? It is all about profit and the only way they (the plantation owners) can do a quick one is the easiest way - slash and burn.

Even Malaysian companies.

But maybe it is easier just to blame those other people.

10 comments:

EngLee said...

I agree not to blame it on others.

Anonymous said...

Better still, help them put out the fire.

dDonkey said...

yeah,its easier to blame others when things go bad,common malaysian reaction. :) its so bloody bad now..visibility is down and i think the government should just start passing out oxygen masks to everybody until the haze clears.

you should thank God for not being here,man.. :)
or are you coming back anytime soon? :)
nice blog,man. :)

narrowband said...

I heard it originates from within Malaysia itself. And they're still blaming Indonesia? No way!

I woke up smelling smoky air. Sigh.

Anonymous said...

lawl. The haze is so bad that I woke up at 11am thinking it was 8am.

And I do think it's senseless to blog about the haze. I mean, what can you do about it? Besides.. being stranded somewhere where the internet is so slow is a pain in the ass

Jon Choo said...

earthnic, since you deleted your comment and decided to reply on your blog, I will still reply here:

Yes, nobody is saying Indonesia isn't to blame but to put it squarly on their lap - that is a different matter. And like you said, they have yet to ratify the Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution - which means they are not bound by it.

Maybe we should all go to the US now and force those silly Hummers and SUVs (how I wish) out of the roads because they have not sign up to the Kyoto treaty.

Last time I checked it is always the fault of the person who did it. The 7/7 bombing in London - was it the fault of the Met police who did not manage to stop them?

Indonesia is a volatile country. Some people has made degaratory remarks about them (not you) being a bunch of lazies who can't even put out a bunch of fires. But then again Indonesia is like a new country emerging from democracy faced with countless of issues.

Malaysians love to complain. Face the fact. Haze is a bad thing, but so is pollution. But last time I check, Malaysians were complaining about high oil prices. I know they love their oil there. Keep em burning!

Maybe I should re-phraise my article - yes blame the Indon Government (which to an extent is plausible) but to not blame those 'Indon fuckers'. Racism is on the rise in Malaysia and some Malaysians are complaining about racism in government - yet they still practise it.

EngLee, what to do? Malaysian habit.

Doc, that I agree and I heard the Malaysian government has offered to. But usually such offers come with strings attached.

dDonkey, not coming back soon. Thank god! ;)

narrowband, Malaysia cars also contribute to haze...I am sure of that.

Chewxy, and here I am, no haze, and yet slow net connection.

Anonymous said...

There are fires closer to us, in Malaysia itself. Bush fires are very common and I have seen bush fires started by inconsiderate people throwing out their cigarettes out of their car.

HardiJ said...

I will say that this haze have both part to be blamed upon. One reason could be that some Malaysian or Indonesian rich arse has 'paid' the poorer residence to 'stripped off' the forest so that those trees can be sold to them for cheap price and lured them to burn the forest after that for 'so called' new plantation, cattle ranches and conversion to agriculture, which again the money goes to those sad people. It's ashame that developing countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia hasn't really concentrate that much on sustainability where forestry, as one of the example, can play a very important role not only in reducing the vast increment of Carbon emission but also can be used as a free fuelwood, medicines, wood for building, rope, fodder, mushrooms, goods for sale as well as watershed protection and biodiversity conservation. Planting a new tree for every tree taken will keep the whole circle going and it's better rather than burning and producing more carbon emission. I guess policies in developing countries need to be changed for better and start to educate people about sustainability that will benefit all parts. I know it might be hard, but our perspective need to be changed and they need to start being selfish and corrupted. Other reason, might be because of global warming which resulting in the increment of temperature that causing accidental nature fire on forestry.

HardiJ said...

ops, I typed something wrong, the word " they need to start being selfish and corrupted." supposed to be "they need to stop being selfish and corrupted!"

Jon Choo said...

All humans are to be blamed. It is our blatant disregard for this tiny planet that caused so much problems.

*Caughs*

I better close the window, somebody is burning something outside.