Coughing Crows and the Little Red Dot

A crow coughed as it passed my window. At least it would have coughed had it been physically able to do so. The birds sweep down their highway from roost to food market, following the contours of the MRT lines.

Visibility of these lines is not the best with the Haze (i.e. pollution from Indonesian burn-off fires)reducing visibility and making it very difficult for anyone with respiratory conditions.

I cannot for the life of me understand why Singapore continues to donate tens of thousands of dollars to Indonesia for smoke sensing equipment, when Indonesian small holders and plantation owners blatantly disregard their own country's directives. The Indonesia government seem powerless, or unwilling, to effectively police their own laws.

A former Indonesian President B.J. Habibie once disparaging referred to Singapore as a "little red dot" and this sort of paternalistic attitude clearly persists.