Monday, November 13, 2006

Billions Of Ringgit Demanded For Fighting The Haze. Can We Trust The Indons?

Four countries, affected by the recent haze originating from Indonesia, have pledged to contribute RM180,000 each to the ASEAN Haze Fund.

Natural Resource and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid said they were Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Brunei.

He said they made the pledge to contribute to the fund at the two-day Asean Environmental Ministers' Meeting in Manila, the Philippines, that started from last Nov 9.

"At the meeting, the four countries agreed to contribute to the fund to finance the technical works to fight the haze," he told reporters at the the Padang Besar constituency's Aidilfitri gathering, here Sunday.

He said Indonesia, which had proposed a total of RM22.8 billion expenditure to fight the haze, was willing to come up with half of the amount, while the remaining would be forked out by other haze-affected countries and from the fund.

All the Asean ministers, particularly those from nations that were affected by the haze, had agreed to hold a meeting every three months to discuss the haze issue, he said.

The countries that were affected by the haze had also agreed to adopt an area each in Sumatera and Kalimantan to make planning and implementation of works easier, he said.
(BERNAMA)


**** Frankly I can't figure out these numbers. Rm 180,000 won't even buy you a terrace house and yet that is the amount that each nation is paying towards the haze fund! Jakarta on the other hand has asked for about RM11.4 billion from its neighbours. How can these two figures be reconciled? Are we actually going to cough up a couple of billion bucks as our share or are we going to curtail our generosity and stick to terrace house level payments?

We must remember that in many ways Indonesia is a country which sorely lacks accountability (not that we are much better!) and handing over billions of ringgit which may turn up in Swiss Banks rather than any haze-fighting venture is as risky as the haze itself. Still if that is the price we have to pay for the long term health of our citizens we have hardly a choice but to pay up, or is there? Any bright spark out there who has a solution to this sticky problem?

Labels:

2 Comments:

Blogger ducky said...

what happen to singapore plea to the UN, no response ? or shot down by asia ? before any country start disbursing money to indonesia, please remember where all those billions when for the tsunami victims.

5:49 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd pay it bud.

I hear what you're sayin about the Swiss Bank accounts.

If it doesn't work, well there's always this way... ;)....

Alabama 3 - Mao Tse Tung Said Lyrics

Martin Luther King died for his love! Kennedy died talking about
something he couldn't even understand, some kind of
generalized love, and he never even backed it up! He was shot
down! Bullshit, “Love is the only weapon with which I got to
fight”. I've got a hell of a lot of weapons to fight! I got
my claws, I got cutlasses, I got guns, I got dynamite, I got a
hell of a lot of fight! I'll fight! I'll fight! I will
fight! I will fight! I will fight! I will fight!

Let
them hear it in the night! Yes, we’ll fight! They’re listening.
Let the night roar! Let the night roar, because they can hear
us, they know we mean it. We’ll kill them if they come!

Mao Tse Tung said change must come
Change must come thru
the barrel of a gun
Not thru talkin' and not through
waitin'
And sittin' around just
contemplatin' the facts
'Cos we know what they
are
So let Mao Tse Tung be your guidin' star
Pick
up a gun and learn how to fight
All thru the day and all
thru the night
'Til come the day when the last
fight's won
I want you to listen, son
'Cos
Mao Tse Tung said change must come
Thru the barrel of a
gun
I want you to listen, son
Change must come
Change must come thru the barrel of a gun

Mao Tse
Tung said
Change must come
Mao Tse Tung said
Change must come
Mao Tse Tung said
Change must
come
Change must come thru the barrel of a gun

Okay. What was the basic premise of Mao? Mao Tse Tung said
there’s only one way a revolution can come. Do you know, Millie?
How did Mao Tse Tung say the only way you can bring a revolution
and keep it?

Where you— onliest way I think you can
keep it is by being at peace and being honorable.

Oh,
shit, I ain’t— no— “being at peace”? Mao Tse Tung said that?

Oh—

No no no no—

Wait a minute—
Oh—

—he’s the head of China. He’s the head of the
Revolution of China.

No, I’m sorry.

He
marched 6000 people…on the Long March.

I had my mind
on something else.

Okay then, wha— wha— what’d he
say? There only one way you can bring about a revolution for
people.

Only way you can— only way you can bring it
on, that by— is by killing.

Well, what— yes, that’s
okay, I’m going to let you pass it —but what’d he say? He had a
nice little phrase that everybody should know. “Change only
comes—”

Oh—

You got it. “Change comes
through…”

“—through— by a barrel of gun.”

That’s right, senior. And that’s good. ‘Cos you by rights
would have every reason to forget some things. “Change must come
through the barrel of gun,” said Mao Tse Tung. This place would
be a paradise tomorrow if every department had a supervisor with
a submachine gun.

Let them hear it in the night!
Yes, we’ll fight! Let the night roar, because they can hear us,
they know we mean it. We’ll kill them if they come!

Mao Tse Tung said
Change must come
Mao Tse Tung
said
Change must come
Mao Tse Tung said
Change
must come
Change must come thru the barrel of a gun

8:49 PM GMT+8  

Post a Comment

<< Home

!-- End #sidebar -->
Malaysia Blog Sites Listing Check Web Rank World Top Blogs - Blog TopSites hits Blog Portal