Haze thy neighbour

Right now, and for the last couple of days, Singapore's favourite website must the NEA's (National Environment Agency) PSI (not pounds per square inch, but pollution standards index) page which reports the 24-hourly and 3-hourly reading of the air in Singapore by region. The region with consistently the highest reading is the western part simply because it is geographically closest to the source of the smoke emitting from the island of Sumatra, which is one of the largest islands of the more than one thousand that make up Indonesia. But the rest of Singapore is no less polluted with find particulate matter that is harmful to health.

The bloody Indonesian government. It can't decide what to do about it. It can't decide how to stop this annual occurrence, it can't decide if they would want Singapore's help to fight the fires causing this air pollution, it can't decide who to point the blame at - i.e. businesses which practice the slash and burn technique, and even if they do, they cannot decide if they want to act. Right now, one can only say that Indonesia is impotent, really, it can't do anything about the problem, or chooses not to. All they are doing is wayanging away. Singapore is just a red dot and dots do not matter, I suppose. Not today, not ever. They're not going to change, unless their generals and wives visit the island for a shopping spree. But that's it. Its a spree, they are gone like the whirlwind and the haze comes back. And the rest of us, its neighbors, are left to hold the ball and suffer the consequences. It doesn't matter whether Singapore has strict emission rules, from the car to the cigarette, and punishes those on the island who pollute the place.  There's always the island of Sumatra, shaped like a cigar, which smolders away 2-3 months of the year.

I am not going to visit Indonesia for leisure for a long while now, blame the %#4%@&* idiots which calls itself a government.

Home away from haze

Singapore's PSI read 290 this evening (Wednesday), the highest it has ever been. And here I am, sitting in a hotel in Penang, away from it all but constantly receiving reports from various people and news sources that has me worried.. And truth be told, the sky is as clear as day here. The only problem is the heat. But compared to what I am reading about the hazy situation in Singapore, that's an immense blessing. I am not due home yet, but already I might to have extend my stay here. I hope not coz school restarts next week and my son needs to be in school. But then again, if this condition persists, could the government announce the closure of schools?

Deja Vu

The thermometers that the government issued to me came out of the office drawers last Thursday, the last day of March 2009 where it has languished for over 5 years. Yeah, that tells you how often I clean out my office drawers. Who was it that Shakespeare caused to say, "Beware, the ides of March?" This time, it may be 45 days late, but I was still apprehensive. Its a digital thermometer, stupid, and I wondered if it worked any more - the battery, i.e. At these times, you see the virtue of alcohol or mercury thermometers. These would still do their magic even if you have left them in the drawer for 10 years or more.

I pressed the button and a beep sounded. Ahhh...it is alive! And I took my temperature - 36.7 celsius. That's good. I wasn't running a fever, so that meant that I wouldn't be escorted off the office premises. All these bring back memories, 6 years ago, to be exact, when the SARs virus caused so much consternation and fear, yes, fear. This time around, we knew exactly what to do. No need to refer to office manuals nor have office briefings. Just say the word, which the authorities, from the government down to the private enterprise, and we went about our temperature taking and recording like second nature. Perhaps this is one of those things that will characterise the first decade of the 21st Century - the terror of killer viruses (besides the terror wreaked by Islamist terrorist). Or perhaps it can just be shortened to terror, which is ironic.

The first decade of the 21st Century has been relatively peaceful. There have not been wars between nations (Iraq and Afghanistan do not count), as in the 20th Century, yet we live in times where we have had to guard ourselves and our nations from unseen enemies, who will strike willy and nilly, bringing down the weak and the strong, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, suddenly and indiscriminately. So also this Swine Fever (somehow its easier to say that Influenza A (H1N1)). It has brought down more than 170 people in Mexico, where it reportedly originated, as well as a 2-month old Mexican child in the US. Thus far, Singapore is still H1N1-free, but we wonder for how long. So you can't blame people for raiding the stores for those masks, which is now scarcely available.

How long will this last? It is anyone's guess. Until the vaccine comes along in half a year's time? Perhaps. But then, we are reminded that there are large quantities of stockpiled Tamiflu in Singapore, which has proven effective against this virus. Maybe that, and the fact that we have gone through this before, has given us a quiet confidence that we will lick this sucker in time. Err...wrong use of word, let me rephrase. We will stamp out this virus if and when it appears amongst us, make no mistake about it. But of course, the priority is to prevent this sucker from stepping onto our shores.

Rocket Food

If there is one constant nowadays, it is that food prices are constantly on the up and up. We have seen prices at Foodcourts rise by at least 10 cents - 50 cents is the norm. And uncooked food from the neighbourhood provision shops to even discount supermarket retailer NTUC Fairprice, have risen over the last couple of weeks. What next? The public bus and train companies? Very likely, given that the price of oil has hovered around US$100 / barrel for some time now. I see no reason why our public transportation providers would not ask the PTC for an increase, and why the PTC would say no.

We are uneasy probably because we have not experienced significant inflation on this scale and at this extent for some time now. Many may not have been around in 1973, but I remembered my parents tightening the household expenditure belt and my mother started working part time to supplement the household income. Of course, at that time, OPEC's decision to raise oil prices was a significant factor contributing to the inflation. It was totally unnecessary. It was politics. But we weathered that storm.

This time around, it is food production, or lack of it, that is causing the supply problem, or so we are led to believe. It is said that China and India are mopping up raw materials and food products so that growers can't grow enough. This in turn has led speculators to bid up the price of raw materials, including food. So the reason why we are paying more for wheat, or corn or rice, for example, are due to speculative activity. Of course, the other reason cited is that more crops are being grown not for eating but to produce biofuels because fossil fuels have become so much more expensive. I am not sure that environmental concerns are significant considerations in the production of biofuels, though it has garnered a higher awareness globally.

Whatever the case or reason may be for the inflation in price of raw materials and food, if we had been prudent in our spending, saving for that rainy day (and this is a figurative rainy day), then we shouldn't be in too much of a fix. In such times, we shouldn't be too choosy about the rice that we eat, whether it is too sticky or not. Its rice, for heaven's sake. It isn't poison. Surely, if we want to be choosey, we cannot but complain. Well, tell that to the God of Crops. But actually, we don't have to look to the Gods. If the current inflation is due to speculative activity, then prices will fall eventually. Some experts predict that these stratospheric prices will collapse within one year as it is foolish to bid up the prices of food (on the commodities market) and hold it there for the long term.

It is the poorer amongst us who will feel the pinch more, but I fail to see how Fairprice's setting up of a proposed rock-bottom-priced discount supermarket would help. I thought Fairprice was set up for the poor among us anyway? You mean Fairprice has gone up-market already, so much so that the very people for which it was set up cannot afford its prices anymore? If this is the case, then we should re-look Fairprice and not go off to set up a LowPrice store. Everybody likes low prices (except those who have more selective taste-buds). If LowPrice were set up, how would it ensure that only the most needy - its target customers - can buy from it? There really is no way, short of getting people to be checked either through their latest payslip or latest income tax assessment or bank account - all of which are not fool-proof anyway. At the end of the day, LowPrice would probably cannibalise Fairprice's market, leading to shortages in LowPrice and forcing it either to raise prices, increase supplies at the expense of Fairprice, or close down. So I don't see why anyone should waste time bothering to study the viability of setting up a lower-priced retail outlet. This simple thought experiment should already suffice. The idea is dead before arrival. Instead, Fairprice should ask itself why its prices are not low enough for the poorer amongst us, if it is serious about the poor and affordability. Or has it lost its way with the segmenting of its market upwards with Fairprice Finest, Fairprice Xtra and (earlier) Liberty Market?

Image source: morgueFile.com. Author: Iván Melenchón Serrano

Sans Power

One hour of total darkness on a Saturday night between 8 and 9pm? Called Earth Hour 2008, it is meant to create an awareness of global warming. That's great! It wouldn't be difficult for me to 'take part' because on most Saturdays between those hours, I am not home anyway. I'll probably be dining in a restaurant with the family - a ritual meant to bond the family. But wait a minute, what if the restaurant I dine in decides to join in this programme? Then I'll really be out of a meal as my wife doesn't cook on Saturday evenings. I thought this is to save on energy, not sap my energy at the same time and leave me famished. But of course, such an event requires planning.

First, buy a dine-in meal from Pizza Hut or McDonalds or KFC and have it delivered way before the hour. Otherwise, the delivery guy will surely get lost. Get the candles and matches ready. Make sure the matches work. Get out a board game - say, Monopoly, or Scrabble. These games force you to sit down for hours on end so you don't need to move around and knock over furniture in the darkness. Some would suggest powering up the PC Notebook on battery to do something more useful, but that is not in the spirit of the occasion. And make sure you empty your bowels way before hand too. You wouldn't want to have to start feeling your way to the loo to locate the bowl and...ok, I won't go into the specifics. And switch off your cellphone. Remember, fuel is burned to produce the electricity to charge your batteries in the first place. That'll get me through that hour. Moreover, this will get the kid off the PC for a change too.

No problem! Except don't have it on a night when MU plays Arsenal and preferably have it on a night when the mother-in-law plans to visit. That'll be dandy.

I am all for Earth Hour 2008! Really.