Daily Lessons from Life 06 October 2014 - Haze set to persist overnight; NEA requests Indonesian authorities to suppress firesAsiaOneMonday, Oct 06, 2014

Hkg Umbrella Revolution updates - losing steams. Just as well. The protesters have made their points. Students need to go back to learning and growing. Pragmatic Hongkongers need to get back to business and making a living under an ever dynamic and challenging macro environment.

"Haze set to persist overnight; NEA requests Indonesian authorities to suppress fires AsiaOne Oct 06, 2014

SINGAPORE - The National Environment Agency (NEA) has requested urgent updates from Indonesian authorities after Singapore was enveloped with unhealthy levels of haze on Monday.

Air quality on the 3hr-PSI scale peaked at 153 at 7pm, not before abating slightly for three consecutive hours, registering 131 at 10pm.

A statement issued by NEA on Monday night said that PM2.5 (small, toxic particles) levels are elevated in all regions of Singapore, notably in the southern parts of the island, bearing the brunt of the haze from the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

The hazy conditions are expected to persist overnight to tomorrow, NEA added, due to the southwesterly winds blowing smoke from central Sumatra, across the Straits of Malacca and towards Singapore.

Some parts of peninsular Malaysia are also affected. A total number of 97 hotspots have been detected in Sumatra, and 74 in Kalimantan. NEA has requested Indonesian authorities to take immediate action to suppress the fire."

It has to come! I thought with Indonesia signing the Asean Anti-Haze Agreement, or whatever Asean initiative to tackle this annoying and embarrassing ANNUAL haze for the last few years, it will NOT happen again! Alas, no such luck!

Lessons for me are:

1. the root causes seemed to have been researched to death with even CNA producing a documentary on the 'why', 'who', and 'how' besides the 'who' identified and explained a few years back. YET, this annual 'rape of Mother Earth' continued unabated! WHY?;

2. I will try to do more research and understand a bit more about what had been done by all parties concerned. Personally, from an idealist's perspective, it is difficult to comprehend WHY who anyone want to do this KNOWING the huge environmental impact it has on health and economic wellbeing of the surrounding Asean nations like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand! Are those who set fires NOT breathing in this harmful substance at ground zero? Or they were thousands of kms away after setting fire and just return to start the new planting season and reap the harvest later?;

3. when the new Indonesia President was recently elected, it was reported he will tackle this long stubborn thorn in the side of Asean unity and authority! I was hopeful that he will take care of things as from a rational perspective, it is harmful to the wealth of the people living in the area. It will COST MORE than the cost of 'preparing the lands for the next planting season' for sure as LIFE surely has to be MORE important to the people! Which means, the 'master-minds' are probably NOT living in the burning area and have NO CARE about the ecological cost their workers or side-kicks method of 'clearing the lands for planting' since they are physically OUT of harm's way!!

This means, the Master-minds MUST be brought to face the laws and make them pay DEARLY for this irresponsible act.

It SHOULD BE a totally solvable challenge as it is a MAN Made 'natural' disaster that gets repeated year after year. If man can wreck havoc, man can STOP it too!