Speaker's Corner Speech on Haze by Wilson Foo

22nd October 2010 (Friday)

Good morning, Singapore. I am here at Speaker's Corner this day to talk about a problem that surrounds Singapore, that envelops us and is right before our eyes, that leaves our throats dry and can even make our eyes tear.

You can see it for yourselves right now. The problem that we face this day is the haze. It may give our photographs a nice and fuzzy glow, but there is really nothing nice and fuzzy about it. Year after year, the people of South East Asia are subjected to this noxious smog that has deleterious effects on our health and casts a gloomy grey shadow over our cities.

Much of the haze, as we know, is caused by the practice of slash and burn agriculture. Primitive farmers continue to burn forests in order to increase the fertility of their land, heedless of the damaging health effects caused to the other peoples of the region. Before we ascribe ill will to these farmers, however, we may give them the benefit of the doubt - they may perhaps not have contemplated the consequences of their disagreeable actions. They have probably received limited education and a clear message has not been put to them that their form of agriculture brings the rest of us very much grief.

ASEAN, to its credit, has recognised that Transboundary Haze Pollution is a serious environmental concern. The ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution was signed on 10 June 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The treaty has been ratified by Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam, our very own Singapore, and even Myanmar. Conspicuously absent from the list is one of the founding members of ASEAN and one of its largest democracies. That nation, as you may have guessed, is Indonesia, of which Sumatra, the very place from which much of the haze is emanating from, is a part.

It is alarming that Indonesia has not ratified this treaty. Sumatra alone contains numerous hot spots, more than anywhere else in the region. According to HazeOnline, the ASEAN website dedicated to haze monitoring, fires in peat soils have been identified as a major contributor to transboundary haze pollution in the region, and Indonesia has about 70% of the region’s peatlands. Sumatra also has large numbers of slash and burn cultivators. The gains made by the efforts of the rest of ASEAN cannot possibly match the immense good that can be done by Indonesia by ratifying and implementing this treaty. In fact, Fitrian Ardiansyah, Director, Climate and Energy, World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) Indonesia, said in 2008, "Without Indonesia in favour of pushing this agenda at the regional level, there won't be any trans-boundary haze agreement."

Indonesia has mentioned that it will not ratify the treaty unless it includes agreements on illegal logging and fishing. With respect, the Indonesian stance of bartering its agreement on haze for the prevention of economic loss is untenable. The position taken by the Indonesian authorities is overly short term and fails to recognise that haze is an environmental problem like no other. In terms of the numbers of people it affects and its negative health effects, it may be orders of magnitude higher than some other environmental problems. The haze affects each and every one of us, including the population of Indonesia. Where the physical well being of people is being affected, concerns on economic loss should take a back seat.

Money can never give us back our health. The health effects of haze on healthy people include sneezing, running nose, eye irritation, dry throat and dry cough, which cause discomfort. However, the effects on persons with medical problems like asthma, chronic lung disease, chronic sinusitis and allergic skin conditions are more severe and they may even have to be sent to hospital. Money will also not buy us new forests and a new earth. The peatlands and forests destroyed by haze may be irreparably damaged and the huge amounts of carbon released into the air may exacerbate the problem of global warming. Forest fires, unmanaged, not only cause an increase in pollution, they destroy the very organisms that help to alleviate pollution, trees.

This day, I urge President Yudhoyono, the government and the legislature of Indonesia to take concrete steps to put an end to this scourge that plagues our region. The slash and burn cultivators have to be educated on the negative effects of haze pollution and told to cease and desist from their practices. They need to be taught other methods of farming that do not harm the environment by causing air pollution. Enforcement efforts should be stepped up and there should be more effort dedicated to the setting up of firefighting response teams. I urge Indonesia to expediently ratify the ASEAN Haze treaty, which will boost the progress of our entire region, including Indonesia.

I also hope that the people of Indonesia understand the plight that has been caused to us as a result of the haze, and hope that Indonesian civic society will take an interest in educating these slash and burn farmers on better and more sustainable agricultural practices. I understand that World Wildlife Foundation Indonesia has spoken out against the haze problem, and applaud their concern for Indonesia's environment. We appreciate every effort by the Indonesian people to reduce the problem of air pollution in the region.

Finally, I have a message for the slash and burn farmers. Please, have a heart, and understand that your actions have made many of us suffer and become sick. There are better ways to farm, like using fertilisers and better crop varieties. Please stop burning your forests and destroying your own environment. The smoke is bad for you too. Thank you. Sila berhenti membakar yang hutan-hutan. Terima Kasih.