Was listening to 93.8Live! this evening while driving home from to a seminar downtown and came across this story: 'Help the People of Kalimantan' Movement by some kind souls in Singapore.
Apparently they felt for the people who are at Ground Zero inhaling haze at PSI of more than 1000 or even 2000 with NO PROPER masks! Apparently they felt the people are poorly educated about the type of masks they should be wearing to protected themselves as even medical doctors among them were saying wearing the 'surgical mask' is BETTER THAN NOTHING! They felt it is actually TOTALLY USELESS against the haze at that level of PSI!
For me, the lessons are:
1. from a humanitarian point of views, we SHOULD help the suffering people of Kalimantan. That is OK if we take it as a short term help. It DOES NOT, and even when the hosts of the radio show are obviously sympathetic towards the cause of helping, I feel that it is 'good intention with BAD actions'. Why? This ONLY solve the superficial stuff. The ROOT CAUSE is NOT tackled;
2. some may ask: WHY should the sufferers be responsible? what can they do to stop the annual 'slash-and-burn' agricultural practices? For me, the answer is VERY SIMPLE. IF YOU ARE THE immediate VICTIMS, you MUST fight for your right to clean air and peaceful coexistence with Mother Earth. If you DON'T, the people who are doing the WRONG THING will continue to do it and you will forever be a victim. The vicious downward negative cycle will never end! If the environmental factors are SO SO BAD, and the people WANT clean air SO SO BADLY, they will act. Maybe it is not to the 'fight or flight' stage? In that case, will short term help of providing with 'proper grade masks' help? Or promote 'complacency and passivity'?;
3. Singaporeans with GOOD INTENTION honestly have to ask themselves HOW can their resources be BETTER deployed to SOLVE the root causes instead of fixing the obvious on the surface! Buying time is fine as long as one has a long term plan to TOTALLY eradicate this nuisance called: annual haze!
My suggestions to deal with this problem, if worth reiterating are:
a. buy the 'slash-and-burn' folks over! Surely they, a small number relative to the population affected, will be happy to be PAID to STOP this damaging 'slash-and-burn' practices as it means they get paid for NOT doing anything!;
b. if buying their cooperation does not move them, try punishing them with death since the consequence created by their 'slash-and-burn' tactic is KILLING innocent helpless people who live nearby!! In this situation, capital punishment will be the ultimate 'scare factor'! Fining them with money is not working as can be seen clearly thus far!;
c. to sponsor any NGOs at Ground Zero and let them fight the battle in the frontline. Feed some of the more radical ones if the 'gentle voice' approach does not work with the 'slash-and-burn' folks, that perhaps death may be apt! Of course, this is 'murder' and no man should do it. Yet, it is in desperate situation that people sometimes do desperate actions! May we never come to that. Yet, it is foolish goodness to NOT anticipate and plan for it, one day!
Will I donate and support the 'Help the People of Kalimantan'? Probably not as it is useless!
Apparently they felt for the people who are at Ground Zero inhaling haze at PSI of more than 1000 or even 2000 with NO PROPER masks! Apparently they felt the people are poorly educated about the type of masks they should be wearing to protected themselves as even medical doctors among them were saying wearing the 'surgical mask' is BETTER THAN NOTHING! They felt it is actually TOTALLY USELESS against the haze at that level of PSI!
For me, the lessons are:
1. from a humanitarian point of views, we SHOULD help the suffering people of Kalimantan. That is OK if we take it as a short term help. It DOES NOT, and even when the hosts of the radio show are obviously sympathetic towards the cause of helping, I feel that it is 'good intention with BAD actions'. Why? This ONLY solve the superficial stuff. The ROOT CAUSE is NOT tackled;
2. some may ask: WHY should the sufferers be responsible? what can they do to stop the annual 'slash-and-burn' agricultural practices? For me, the answer is VERY SIMPLE. IF YOU ARE THE immediate VICTIMS, you MUST fight for your right to clean air and peaceful coexistence with Mother Earth. If you DON'T, the people who are doing the WRONG THING will continue to do it and you will forever be a victim. The vicious downward negative cycle will never end! If the environmental factors are SO SO BAD, and the people WANT clean air SO SO BADLY, they will act. Maybe it is not to the 'fight or flight' stage? In that case, will short term help of providing with 'proper grade masks' help? Or promote 'complacency and passivity'?;
3. Singaporeans with GOOD INTENTION honestly have to ask themselves HOW can their resources be BETTER deployed to SOLVE the root causes instead of fixing the obvious on the surface! Buying time is fine as long as one has a long term plan to TOTALLY eradicate this nuisance called: annual haze!
My suggestions to deal with this problem, if worth reiterating are:
a. buy the 'slash-and-burn' folks over! Surely they, a small number relative to the population affected, will be happy to be PAID to STOP this damaging 'slash-and-burn' practices as it means they get paid for NOT doing anything!;
b. if buying their cooperation does not move them, try punishing them with death since the consequence created by their 'slash-and-burn' tactic is KILLING innocent helpless people who live nearby!! In this situation, capital punishment will be the ultimate 'scare factor'! Fining them with money is not working as can be seen clearly thus far!;
c. to sponsor any NGOs at Ground Zero and let them fight the battle in the frontline. Feed some of the more radical ones if the 'gentle voice' approach does not work with the 'slash-and-burn' folks, that perhaps death may be apt! Of course, this is 'murder' and no man should do it. Yet, it is in desperate situation that people sometimes do desperate actions! May we never come to that. Yet, it is foolish goodness to NOT anticipate and plan for it, one day!
Will I donate and support the 'Help the People of Kalimantan'? Probably not as it is useless!
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