Singapore slammed “shocking” statements from Indonesian officials over the haze crisis as it closed all schools and distributed protective face masks yesterday in emergency measures after the air pollution index soared to hazardous levels.
The city-state has been cloaked in smog blown in from the tinder-dry island of Sumatra for about three weeks, the worst such episode since mid-2013 in a crisis that grips the region nearly every year during the burning-off season.
The closure of primary and secondary schools, as well as government-run kindergartens, due to the haze problem is unprecedented, the Straits Times daily said as the air quality index shot up above 300, a level considered “hazardous.”
WARNING: SMOKING CAN DAMAGE YOUR HEALTH.
Photo: Reuters
As the pollution index rose, so did tempers, with Singapore Minister of Foreign Affairs K. Shanmugam speaking out against some Indonesian figures who made light of the problem, which has long strained relations among affected countries, including Malaysia.
While Jakarta says it is taking steps to deal with the problem, “at the same time, we are hearing some shocking statements made, at senior levels, from Indonesia, with a complete disregard for our people, and their own,” the minister said in a Facebook post late on Thursday.
“How is it possible for senior people in government to issue such statements, without any regard for their people, or ours, and without any embarrassment, or sense of responsibility?” he said.
Shanmugan did not identify the officials, but Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla has made waves in recent weeks by repeating comments he made in March that Indonesia’s neighbors should be grateful for good air quality most of the year.
“For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us,” he said at the time.
Indonesian presidential spokesman Ari Dwipayana declined to comment on Shanmugam’s remarks, but said Indonesia’s neighbors should also take note of Jakarta’s efforts to contain the fires.
“The president has stated that all force has been mobilized, we are going all out to put out the fires by water-bombing and weather modification,” he said.
“The president has also directly visited the impacted area, and this shows how serious we are in handling the forest fires and haze,” he said, referring to Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s trip to smog-choked areas on the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said that offices would remain open yesterday, but that face masks would be distributed at community centers across the city-state for needy and elderly citizens.
The haze conditions improved somewhat throughout the day, below the level considered hazardous and into the high end of the “very unhealthy” range.
Lee said that Singapore has offered Indonesia help in putting out the fires “and asked them to share with us the identity of companies responsible for causing the haze.”
Indonesia has previously said that Singapore-based companies were among those responsible for the blazes, caused by smallholders and agricultural companies using burning as a method to clear land for plantations during summer.
Under pressure from its neighbors to stop the annual haze, Widodo has pledged to crack down on companies and individuals behind the burnings.
About 3,000 troops and police have been sent to Sumatra to fight the fires, with Indonesian authorities saying last week it would take a month to bring them under control.
Indonesian Ministry of the Environment spokesman Eka W. Sugiri said a total 25 air aircraft have been deployed to fight the fires through water-bombing and chemically inducing rainfall.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
As evening falls in Fiji’s capital, a steady stream of people approaches a makeshift clinic that is a first line of defense against one of the world’s fastest-growing HIV epidemics. In the South Pacific nation — a popular tourist destination of just under a million people — more than 2,000 new HIV cases were recorded last year, a 26 percent increase from 2024. The government has declared an HIV outbreak and described it as a national crisis. “It’s spreading like wildfire,” said Siteri Dinawai, 46, who came to be tested. The Moonlight Clinic, a converted minibus parked in a suburban cul-de-sac in Suva, is
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
RSS