JUNE 20 — The haze has made me frustrated.

My eyes have been bloodshot for a week and all I see is misty.

I went to consult a doctor for twice and he did not treat me like a patient, despite my condition, oops! My facial expression instead was a bit exaggerated.

I should be gratified actually, as at least my condition was not as bad as the teacher in Johor, who suffered from breathing difficulty because of the haze and had to be rushed to hospital.

“Many people are like this during this season,” the doctor drawled in conclusion.

Malaysia has a rainy season, a dry season, a durian season, a demonstration season, as well as a haze season. It seems like the people have grown accustomed to it.

I found that the Indonesian government has remained calm, although the haze that it exported has blanketed the Southeast Asia.

Indonesia Forestry Ministry official Hadi Daryanto said: “The Indonesian authorities are ready to put out the fires, including cloud-seeding.”

In other words, the Indonesia government is ready, but it seems that since it has not received any invitation, the work of putting out fires is not started yet.

Hadi also said that the Indonesian government should not be blamed for its slow, or no response, as Indonesia is facing an ineffable difficulty.

“Some people set fires to reclaim oil palm plantations, including many Singaporean and Malaysian oil palm companies that have invested in Indonesia.

“We hope the governments of Malaysia and Singapore will tell their investors to adopt proper measures so we can solve this problem together,” he said.

I finally got it. It means that the haze problem is actually the responsibility of Malaysia and Singapore. Since their oil palm companies have invested in Indonesia, the investment by-product, haze, is then sent back to them.

If the people of Malaysia and Singapore are unhappy with it, they should blame the oil palm companies, as well as their governments for not guiding these companies properly.

How impressive is the public relations skill of Hadi. Indonesia can shrug off the responsibility just like this.

The problem is, were the fires really set by Singaporean and Malaysian companies?

The Malaysian government has not yet responded, but the government of Singapore responded rapidly. Its Environment Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan made an immediate call to Indonesia, demanding Singaporean companies involving in setting forest fires to be named and satellite images to be released to identify which companies are involved.

Of course, we are not sure whether Indonesians, Malaysians or Singaporeans have set the forest fires. However, it is a simple truth that since the fires are in Indonesia and the country has relevant laws to punish those who should be responsible, anyone who is involved, regardless of his or her nationality, should be arrested while the involved companies must also bear the responsibility.

Just like if an Indonesian commits a crime in Malaysia, the Malaysian law enforcement authorities just ignore it and tell the Indonesian government: “This is your responsibility and please advise your people not to commit crimes in Malaysia.”

The criminal will be very happy as the government has helped him resolve the risk.

In fact, the Malaysian government should also make its stand clear and tell the Indonesian government not to hesitate to take necessary actions against any Malaysian companies found and proven to have involved in the forest fires. There is no need for the Indonesian authorities to find a scapegoat either.

Otherwise, the haze will continue to return every year until all the forests in Indonesia are burned down. — mysinchew.com

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malay Mail Online.