Malaysia hoping Indonesia will do its part in tackling fires. Keep Hoping!

Looks like our unbounded love and trust for our Indon brethren has not waned, at least for our leaders. Some like DPM Najib however are not that optimistic but still have to be diplomatic in their opinion. But the frustration shows when he says, "as far as we are concerned, there is not much that we could do about the Indonesian fires. Our ability to resolve the problem will largely depend on the determination of the Indonesian government to address the matter. This will be our major challenge."

He was commenting on the ongoing haze problem affecting many parts of the country, especially Sarawak which saw the air pollution index hitting the highest at 161 in Kuching on Thursday.

This annual outrage perpetrated on our people by the irresponsible Indonesians has to stop. But how do you force an unwilling Goliath?

Here's something I posted a month ago and it is still applicable. Read on....

So the earlier worry that the haze may return seems justified. So what do we do now? Send our poor firemen to Indonesia again just because the fools there don't know how to govern their provinces and firmly enforce rules that are already in place? While we may be able to reduce open burning here, unfortunately we will not be in a position to influence decisions in Jakarta as we have learnt many times in the past. They seem to get a perverse pleasure out of seeing us being distressed and inconvenienced by the haze.

Our government has tried everything possible to get the damned Indons to do something concrete and permanent about this recurrent problem, but after some sincere nodding, the Indon leaders finally get back to the same untenable point - that our plantation owners in Indonesia are responsible for the open burning there! What a novel way of washing their hands off the whole problem.

Given this scenario and knowing that the Indon government will be as helpful in a crisis as the Singaporeans, we have to make the best of a bad situation. Try our level best to reduce open burning here and educate the public on the health hazards of the haze. Maybe even a little diplomatic begging on the sly in Jakarta may be useful. But please oh please don't fudge, fake or conceal API readings........

(I'm frankly at my wit's end as far as finding a solution to this serious problem is concerned. Any smart guy out there who has a brilliant idea to share?)