SE Asia Could Have Been Spared From the Smog-paper
10/12/97
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Headline: SE Asia Could Have Been Spared From the Smog-paper
Source: Reuters
Date: 10/12/97
Copyright 1997 by Reuters
SINGAPORE, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Southeast Asia could have been
spared from the smog blanketing the region for weeks if more
information had been made public earlier, Singapore's Sunday
Times said.
The newspaper said that satellite pictures in Singapore
detected the forest fires in Indonesia which caused the smog
back in late May.
An official from the Environment Ministry then told the
newspaper that Indonesia should not be identified to the public
because of regional sensitivities.
``But was this managing of regional sensitivities done at
the expense of keeping the public better informed or even at the
expense of stronger government demands for faster and effective
Indonesian action?'' the newspaper asked.
Similarly in June, when the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur's
skyline was shrouded in the smog and visibility dropped to three
kilometres (two miles), the source of the smog was not
identified.
``If only everyone concerned who had been monitoring the
situation closely had spoken out about it early, clearly and
loudly enough, the region may not have suffered the unmitigated
environmental, public health and economic disaster that
followed,'' the paper said.
It was only in August that Malaysia became the first
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member to lay
responsibility for the smog publicly on Indonesia.
However, Singapore's Environment and Health Minister Yeo
Chow Tong told Parliament last Tuesday that the government had
in fact raised the issue with Indonesia long before the current
episode started.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng was quoted as saying:
``In ASEAN, we have our ASEAN way of dealing with problems, and
I am sure Indonesia heard the message loud and clear without us
shouting about it.''
``The ASEAN way'' of holding discreet behind-the-scenes
discussions, while keeping the ASEAN public in the dark may work
in sorting out political, trade or diplomatic kinks, the paper
said.
``But it does not work when it comes to a disaster like the
haze, a public health hazard everyone will see and smell the
minute he wakes up.
``The way this year's haze was handled, both by Indonesia
and its neighbours, suggests strongly.. officials should come
out in the open and warn the entire region and its peoples,'' it
said.
This year's smog is expected to recede when the monsoon
rains arrive in full force in November.