The haze made its presence known for the first time in 1997. Fortunately, I was away for my Child Neurology training in US then. Hence, I was not particularly bothered by it. Since then, it makes its annual "pilgrimage" to Malaysia/Singapore around July-Sept, when the local farmers / big corporation engaged in Palm Oil industries cleared vast areas of forests with "slash and burn" method. I don't recall any major incidents until 2013, when the pollutant standard index hit dangerously high level for the first time. The island city of Singapore was engulfed in haze for a few days. N95 masks were out of stock in local drug stores in no time (everyone, even the government, was taken by surprise by the severity of the haze). Since then, there were sporadic days of light to moderate haze; people still carry on routine activitis unperturbed.
But it returned with vengeance this time round, despite cross border agreement among affected countries (Singapore/Malaysia/Indonesia) to minimize the threats of haze. The PSI hit unhealthy/dangerous range for the past few days, leading to school closure for one day, and cancellation of outdoor sporting events/gathering, and even indoor swimming competition.
The thoughts of local government being helpless in reining in the big companies/corporations that have been blatantly burning vast areas of forest in total disregards of the health of residents nearby are downright disgusting and very disturbing. It reflects the impotence of the local government officers in enforcing strict rules/regulations barring such activities, and raises concerns that perhaps corruption may have been involved or the parties involved have strong political connections and cannot be touched!
The air quality at PSI of 250 is quite already daunting in Singapore. Just imagined having to put up with PSI of 1000 in the worse affected areas in Kalimantan and Sumatera.
