Polar Blasts and Hazy Recollections

Shoppers cover their mouths while out along Orchard Road, in Singapore.
Photo: Mark Cheong / The Straits Times

It's six in the morning and as I write a polar southerly is rattling the windows with hail and rain announcing the dawn.  The only thing in favour of this climatic reality is that the air is fresh; too fresh for the farmers in New Zealand's South island who are waist deep in snow trying to protect their livestock.

What a contrast with the choking stillness of the Indonesian haze that is enveloping Singapore in a caustic blanket.

I remember clearly my first experience of this  haze and wrote about it back in 2007 and in subsequent posts.  The thing that angered me then and angers me still, is the total disregard Indonesia has for its neighbours when it come to air pollution of this sort.

Singapore's NEA Regional Haze Map

Currently the Haze being experienced by my Singaporean friends is at record levels - PSI 250 at 11 pm last night which virtually guarantees respiratory problems for anyone who inhales it. Early in the day, at 1 pm, it had reached a record-high level of 371, beating the previous 1997 record of 226.

Air becomes "hazardous" when the PSI breaches 300 but believe me as one who has experienced it, it is very unpleasant to live and work in at much lower levels.

The Strait's Times reports that a senior Indonesian minister has hit out at Singapore on the haze, saying: "Singapore shouldn't be like children, in such a tizzy."  I note that this same Minister, one Agung Laksono,  is pictured in his air-conditioned office far away from any pollution (if you discount Jakarta's traffic).

Singapore's  Ministry of Health (MOH) having been doing what they can, closing schools and issuing N95 face masks and urging the population not to stockpile so there are enough to go around.

Out of the mouths of babes
A seven year old American child who is visiting her grandparents in Singapore is so upset that she cannot go outside to play that she wrote to the US President Barack Obama, asking him to tell his "good friend the President of Indonesia to stop burning the forest".

Sumatra Hotspots that generate the haze - Meteorological Service Singapore

What is particularly galling about this is that Indonesia does virtually nothing to curb this annual problem, despite taking money from the Singaporean government in the past to alleviate the situation and educate their farmers and those illegally clearing the land for oil palm plantations, using fire.

There is little the Singapore population and its government can do if its larger neighbour continues to behave in such a cavalier fashion. It is a small comfort to know that there is now a special subsidy scheme in place for Singaporeans who are suffering from respiratory problems or conjunctivitis because of the haze.

They can see their GP and only pay $10 with the Ministry of Health picking up the the rest of the bill. Meanwhile flight sin and out of Changi are disrupted, constructions sites and school closed down and even McDonalds has suspended its fast food delivery service.

My suggestion, stop sending money to Indonesia from support schemes that are clearly failing. Instead tally up the total cost of this economic impact due to the Sumatran haze and send the bill to the Indonesia through a world court.  See if that prompts their cooperation.

Stop Press: Haze PSI hits 401 at mnidday today!

Related articles

• Indonesia Says Singapore 'Behaving Like a Child' Over Haze
• Singapore PM Says Haze from Indonesia Fires May Last for Weeks
• Indonesian Minister's Arrogance on Display

A Most Beautiful Home?

"Let’s make our world the most beautiful home
Where everyone can live and breathe and they can easily roam"

or so says the lyrics of this song which is currently being hammered on Singaporean television.

There is a sad irony about "live and breathe" with the haze continuing and the current state visit of the Indonesian President; whose country is responsible for polluting the lungs of everyone living in Singapore.

My past week has been punctuated by the frightening reality of an antivirus software turned bad. My McAfee antivirus software (which I downloaded from our work network at the behest of our IT department) decided to misbehave.

The result being that I could not access my PC for a day or two. At moments like this one realises just how reliant we have become on technology - checking the weather, the condo prices, the exchange rates...

Thankfully we have some excellent IT technicians at work and one of them was able to correct matters.

I am also without a passport at the moment and therefore confined to Singapore for the duration. There is nothing untoward about this, as I have sent it back for renewal through our local High Commission. The process as I understand it takes a month?

Renewing a passport is an exercise in stepping back in time. Looking at the passport photos in old travel documents graphically documents the deterioration of man. No passport image is ever flattering and it is cold comfort to realise that they get progressively worse over time.

Perhaps it's a case of beauty being in the eye of the beholder.

The Bluest Skies You Ever See Are In Toh Payoh

Well hardly....!

Even though this song verse describes Seattle rather than Singapore I had hoped it might apply, but is not to be.

By the time I came to leave work this evening the haze had almost reached the levels we experienced three years ago.

Visibility from our condo window (above) is getting worse by the minute even though the official PSI Index seems to indicate the problem is 'moderate' 53 reading over the 24 hours.

I suspect that the next 24 hours will have a totally different reading and we can taste the smoke in the air. So much for Indonesian cooperation in combating burn-offs!

Send Your Sinuses To Singapore

The Vicks inhaler was rammed up his left nostril. His eyes were closed in a feigned slumber as the rhythm of the MRT lulled the passengers bound for Redhill.

What at first glance seems slightly incongruous becomes less so the longer one lives in Singapore.

Sinusitis is a significant problem in this part of the world. There used to be an advert shown on New Zealand television that extolled the virtues of a preparatory medicine. It guaranteed that by taking the product one would "send your sinuses to Arizona".

This is one reason I have never had an inclination to visit Arizona. I also now believe that the geographic accuracy of the advertisement's claim leaves much to be desired. Most of the sinuses ended up here in Singapore instead.

Much of life takes place in an air-conditioned environment and maintenance of these units should be, but is not always, a priority. The result is nasal congestion.

Similarly, the advent of green awareness in Singapore has seen more people switching off their "aircons" and going back to more energy efficient devices such as electric fans.

Not that this alleviates the allergies. Dust and other pollutants are simply distributed in a different manner and pollution is a problem here, especially so when the Indonesians decide to ignore their neighbours health and fire half the countryside.

With the current focus on heritage matters in this country what an opportune time to revert to that stalwart of colonial times, the 'punkah wallah'. The humble bearer pulled a cord that in turn gently raised and lowered a canvas flap, generated a breeze within the house.

This might be just the thing to re-employ the dozens of foreign workers that will be sent home as a result of the downturn in the Singaporean economy.

There is however one serious flaw in my labour redistribution plan. While the colonial bungalows of old Singapore could easily revert to this system of cooling, most of us now live in high rise condos or on HDB estates.

The small balconies outside where the airconditioning units are perched were never designed for a squatting and loin-clothed figure pulling listessly on a grimy piece of string.

Until they solve this architectural challenge I will snuffle my way to the chemist for another inhaler refill.