Singapore donates SARS scanners

JAKARTA: The Singaporean government has donated two thermal scanners to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali as part of efforts to cooperate with Indonesia to ensure a successful ASEAN Summit and keep ASEAN free of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

The scanners were symbolically handed over by Singapore Ambassador Edward Lee to foreign minister Hassan Wirayuda on Saturday.

The latest contribution, in addition to four thermal scanners donated to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on July 3, is testimony to the close relation between the two countries, the Singapore Embassy said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

ASEAN groups Singapore, Indonesian, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

The SARS epidemic started in March this year and raged for three months in Singapore, sending the city-state's economy into a tailspin. -JP