Najib and his cabinet are the most ineffective, inaction, and indifferent government in dealing with haze crisis
On August 11, 2005 a state of emergency was announced for the world's 12th largest port, Port Klang and the district of Kuala Selangor after air pollution there reached dangerous levels (defined as a value greater than 500 on the Air Pollution Index or API). The state of emergency in the two affected areas meant that all schools, government officials, the port, and offices to be closed. Shops carrying necessities, however, such as supermarkets and pharmacies remained open.
Now, Muar's API has reached 746 this morning, far higher than Port Klang in 2005. Yet, there is no formal and official announcement from Najib regarding the emergency status other than a posting on Natural Resources and Environment Minister G Palanivel's facebook. What has actually been done for the residents of Muar whose health is seriously at stake?
Other than declaring emergency status, we demand BN Government to start cloud seeding operations in Muar immediately. Besides, Singapore Government is distributing 1,000,000 N95 masks free to the poorest 200,000 households in Singapore starting from today. Malaysian Government should to do the same. Respirator masks (i.e. N95 or equivalent) are effective in filtering out the fine particles that are produced during haze episodes. Malaysian Government should be giving it free to the poor and needy, such as pregnant women, children, elderly or those having respiratory conditions in Muar and places where the API is over 300.
Not only that, Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has flown to Indonesia to meet his counterpart, Professor Balthasar Kambuaya at Indonesia’s environment ministry last Friday. On the other hand, our Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel will only visit Professor Balthasar Kambuaya on next Wednesday. What has our Government done to press the Indonesia’s Government on the emergency and urgency of the haze disaster?
