| Issue 26 Vol II, October 31, 2006 | Archive |
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Malaysian diary
People as well as the governments in these countries could live with this kind of miserable situation if these were not man made. The haze is caused by burning of forests in the islands of Sumatra, Borneo and Java. These illegal clearings of some of the most perennial forests in large areas are done to clear land for palm plantations that would bring billions of rupees to the big companies but at the end of all this only brings misery to farmers and the public. The stumps of trees are left to burn for days and produce smoke that covers these four countries, but due to wind direction it is less in Indonesia. One of the worst years for forest fires was 1997, when almost 10 million hectares of forest in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Sulawesi and Papua were destroyed, affecting the health and economy of 70 million people across Southeast Asia. More than 13,000 hectares of forest have been destroyed so far this season. According to the government billions of rupees are lost each year in health and environmental costs. These losses include disruptions to the shipping and aviation industries.
This is largely meant to meet the strong public protests in many cities of Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Political parties in Malaysia described these continuing fires as irresponsible and unfriendly action on behalf of the government of Indonesia. In fact, Indonesian diplomats in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Thailand have been given strong warning to do something concrete or suffer the consequences. This choking smoke has been choking friendly relations that are worsening over the years. Anger has been building up much more in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore and there had been public protest too. “Nothing helps except the rains. Why the governments do nothing tangible,” Malaysians normally ask in sheer desperation. They wish something better was done by the governments and those involved in burning the forests, nature’s great gift to man that makes life happen. There had been only prayers in Sumatra and Borneo for rains. In fact, each year or whenever these fires spread and cause haze across these countries, people only pray to rain gods to help. Rains douse the fires to be lit up again next time. Government of Indonesia always cry for shortage of funds and equipment to douse these fires that make life virtual hell for millions of people and the companies and farmers that burn the forests look the other way. No government dares to ask them to adopt other techniques to clear the jungles for plantation and save the already fragile environment. Imagine the smog that rises this month in Punjab by burning the paddy stumps and the hue and cry that is made and here thousands of hectares of rich forest full of different species of plants, birds and animal life are destroyed to make land commercially more useful. Indonesia’s popular newspaper The Jakarta Post came in strong to call upon the government of Indonesia to do something, It wrote, “ Our neighbours have been more than tolerant of Indonesia's failure to deal with this annual problem. But this tolerance should not be perceived by Jakarta as a licence to ignore the issue. We have the tools in place to deal with the haze, so why is no action being taken? There is the 1994 ban on the burning of forests and grassland for land clearance, but the regulation is not consistently enforced and very few offenders have been brought to court since the 1980s.” The governments in these eight countries have urged for the implementation of the recommendations contained in Asean's Hanoi Plan of Action 1998. It specifies various measures, including damage control through fire fighting, cloud seeding and monitoring using satellite imaging; facilitation of assistance from neighbouring countries to help put out the fires as no country, including Indonesia, has the resources to do it alone; and severe action under the law against those responsible for the fires, irrespective of who they may be, including Malaysians. On its part the Indonesian government has promised to ratify the Asean Tran boundary Haze Agreement 2002 after Hari Raya [ Ramadan] when its parliament resumes sitting. Indonesian embassy information head Eka Suripto who was handed over a memorandum by some youth organizations in Kuala Lumpur said that contrary to press reports, "We have already signed the agreement and are now working on the legislation. The executive has completed most of the work. We are now only waiting for legislative approval for enforcement." But it has taken more than a decade to do that. On efforts to douse the hotspots in Indonesia, Eka said: "No neigbouring country has offered help. We always welcome help to fight the fires." If you have noticed, the burning spots have reduced from 6,000 to 600. This shows we are serious and doing the utmost to resolve the problems." But there were not many takers to what he claimed. Seeking help is alright, but what that country has done so far to contain these fires and save the health of millions of people is the question.
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American
Culture and Politics
In America I was a witness to a different type of cultural event and a celebration tailor made for the American political system. On Thursday October 26, 2006, fell the birthday of America’s popular former first lady and present Senator of New York State Hillary Rodham Clinton. It was a grand celebration, which was less of a birthday affair but more of a political pep-rally. It was six years ago that she decided to challenge a deeply entrenched Republican Senatorial Machinery in New York State and successfully dethroned the Grand Old Party. Since then the graph of Hillary Clinton’s popularity has risen so high she has become invincible. The term of a U.S. Senator is six years. So she is up for reelection in a nation-wide polling exercise to be held on Tuesday November 7, 2006. As the things stand today, Hillary Clinton is well on the road to a landslide victory. She is not only going to win her own seat comfortably, but her electoral coat-tails are expected to be long and wide, which will result in other Democratic gains in some of the crucial Congressional Districts in New York State. Hillary Clinton’s campaign team planned a big celebration for her birthday. The venue was a lush green corner on the Western fringe of Manhattan’s famous Central Park, in the sprawling campus of "Tavern on the Green". The attendees were supposed to contribute $1000 per plate. A total of 110 tables with 10 seats on each were laid for the dinner. All the tables were fully occupied and there was some overflow also. This means that after paying for the expenses of dinner, more than one million dollars (equivalent to 4 crore 60 lakh rupees) were raised for her campaign. The Indian community had reserved about five tables, out of which one table was exclusively reserved for the Sikhs primarily from Baba Makhan Shah Lubana Sikh Society of Richmond Hill Area of Queens New York. The leader of the Sikh group was Harbans Singh Ghotra. I was on the same table. Cutting across racial lines, the gathering gave the impression of a rainbow coalition of all ethnic communities living in the U.S. It was a three hour 7 to 10pm gala event. The speakers included the big bosses of New York State’s Democratic Party. But when former President Bill Clinton accompanied by his better half Senator Hillary Clinton appeared in the party , the atmosphere became fully electrified. A huge applause amid vociferous clapping rent the air as the former President Bill Clinton rose to speak. President Clinton said, he has never seen a more committed and more brilliant senator than Hillary Clinton. He said, he met her 35 years ago. Both had identical natures, tastes and qualities, both were interested in public good and both were politically motivated. The crowd, after hearing their popular ex-President, became so much fired up that it became a political pep-rally for the Democratic Party. Clinton said, he took the middle road taking into his ideological fold the views and aspirations of a lot of moderate Republicans as well as independents and democrats. That kind of consensus is missing in present day scenario. Hillary Clinton said, she could see the change coming. This great nation has over the past six years been made to shut its thought process. Now the people are awakening to the ground realities. Even some Republicans and independents are calling her and expressing their dismay at the way this nation is drifting. Over the past few years we have made more enemies World-wide and narrowed our sphere of friends. From a surplus national economy of the Clinton years, we have become the most heavily indebted nation in the World. Every day we are sinking 2 to 3 billion dollars into wasteful Iraq War and other futile extravagances. This nation needs a new direction and we are on the road towards a much needed healthy change. She meant a possible Democratic takeover of both houses of the American Congress, which will make President Clinton virtually a lame-duck President of the U.S. Overall it turned out into a lively affair less of a birthday party but more of a morale inspiring get-together of like minded and moderate thinking American intellectuals as well as common folks. |
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IT
is almost an annual feature for the past 20 years. A thick pall of haze
covers large areas of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, causing
untold misery and suffering to millions of people living in these south east
Asian countries. As breathing problems increase everyone is advised to stay
in-doors to avoid bouts of sickness like influenza and bronchitis. Billions
of rupees are lost in terms damage to health, trade and tourism. And, it
threatens the fragile ecological balance.
After a
severe environmental crisis following the smog problems towards the end of
1990s, the 10-member Asean signed an environmental agreement in 2002 to
bring smog pollution under control in the region. Since then, seven
countries - Brunei, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam
- have ratified the agreement. Indonesia, the country often blamed for the
smog problems, is reported to be still in the process of ratifying it. It
has once again promised on October 11to ratify the agreement.
WE
in India, in day to day affairs, differ quite substantially from the
Americans. we celebrate birthdays either by observing our varied religious
modalities, or in a secular way by feasting in the company of friends and
relatives. Our big tag leaders, several times prefer to celebrate their
birthdays in the company of supporters, admirers and the so called
grass-root workers. The UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s birthday is an annual
exercise by her big and small followers to vie with each other to display
their personal loyalty and eke out some favours. It is also an occasion for
the election ticket seekers to show their annual gestures of loyalty.