The impact of forest fires

Malaysians are a tolerant lot. But there is a limit to even this legendary patience when the consequences for health, the economy and quality of life are grave. And they are grave every time the pall of suffocating smoke visits the country from across the Malacca Strait.

Businesses suffer, schools are closed, tourism plunges and health problems soar. Malaysians are forced to make do without their daily dosage of tea because they have to stay indoors, and this is evident with food stalls seeing fewer customers.

The recurring haze has changed the lives of Malaysians as quickly as it came. Families are forced to stay indoors. Many have left the Klang Valley for a longer weekend in other parts of the country where the air is cleaner. Equally many are at a loss as to what to do.

Perhaps as frustrating as the muggy feeling is the sense of helplessness many Malaysians feel over the source of the haze -- the forest fires in Indonesia -- and the denial and cavalier attitude of some Indonesians toward the suffering here.

Sadly, Malaysians have been on the receiving end of the haze since the 1997 episode. None of the proposals mooted since then have been implemented, not even in the good neighborly spirit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

"I have no choice but to run away from Kuala Lumpur," quipped S.M. Idris, the country's grand old man of consumerism. "I mean, how can anyone breathe here. The haze has been a recurring problem for the past 20 years and yet we have not learned anything," says the Penangite, his words imbued with obvious sarcasm.

How long are Malaysians going to suffer in silence? Where do we go from here? Should we accept this as fate and absolve the Indonesians of any wrongdoing simply because they are powerless against the fires?

Perhaps we need to give serious thought to a remark by the head of the Environment Health Department at the Institute for Medical Research, Dr. Stephen Ambu. During the same conference where the transboundary haze agreement was signed, he warned that the emissions of sulphur dioxide, harmful particulate matter and other chemical pollutants would increase drastically in the region by 2005 if member nations did not abide by the agreement.

This today sounds prophetic.

SAZAINDRAIS BIN SAJIT Selangor, Malaysia