SINGAPORE: Haze conditions in Singapore worsened on Thursday, with the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hitting a new all-time high of 371 at 1pm.
As Singapore deals with the worsening conditions, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has urged for calm.
He has also outlined additional measures the government will take to deal with the problem.
These include setting up the Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee and granting medical subsidies for vulnerable groups with haze-related ailments.
Mr Lee said: “We cannot tell how this problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind.
“It can easily last for several weeks, and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra, which may be in September or October. So we will need to adapt our response to suit the changing situation and protect ourselves in practical and sustainable ways.”
He said the priority is to ensure the health and safety of Singaporeans and that life goes on.
Better data will be made available, so Singaporeans can anticipate what the haze situation might be and take the necessary precautions. There will also be daily media briefings.
Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen, who is the chair of the Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee, said: “We want to give as much information as possible to Singaporeans in as timely a manner as possible. We have had feedback that the current channels of providing information, there are gaps, and we acknowledge there are gaps, and we are trying to plug them.”
MOH will implement a special scheme where young Singaporeans aged 18 and below, elderly Singaporeans aged 65 and above, Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) card holders, Public Assistance (PA) and Medical Fee Exemption Card holders who suffer from respiratory problems and conjuctivitis because of the haze can see their GPs, pay S$10 and MOH will settle the rest of the GP bill.
When asked about the possibility of a stop-work order as hazardous haze levels persist, Mr Lee noted that there is no single tipping point.
Mr Lee said: “I don’t think there is any single point, where we turn action on and turn action off on stopping work, because it will be depend on what people are doing, what their exposure is, what our assessment of the situation is in the past 24 hours and the outlook.
“I think we will have to calibrate our response as we go along. So I can foresee if the haze gets more and more dense then we would take a gradually escalating series of steps.”
“We can ask people to work for shorter periods, outdoors, we can ask people to put off doing the more strenuous work outdoors, we can ask people to take breaks if they’re working outdoors. We can ask people to have masks.
“We can eventually say certain categories, you have to stop. So I don’t think there’s any hard line where we say everything comes to a stop, and indeed it’s not possible for everything to come to a stop because life must go on.”
Concerns over why Singapore takes a three-hour average and not hourly to measure pollutants in the air were also addressed.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, minister for environment and water resources, said: “Actually, we are probably the only country that’s publishing three-hour rolling average PSI.
“If you look at PSI readings at almost every other jurisdiction, it would be on a 24-hour average and the updating is not going to be at an hourly interval and published almost instantly as what we have now.
“If you look at individual data points, they can be quite spiky but our three-hour PSI already gives a lot more fluctuations than you would see in almost every other jurisdiction.
“I want to give you the assurance that we will give all the data that we have. But I also want you to understand that our reactions have to be carefully and deliberately thought through. It cannot just be on the basis of reacting or following the crowd.”
At the international front, leaders said the focus is to stop the burning at source.
Singapore will provide satellite pictures and maps of hotspots to enable Indonesian authorities to pinpoint the source of the fires.
In the long term, Singapore said it will work with Indonesia on sustainable methods of farming.
Indonesia has accused Singaporean companies of being involved in starting the fires, although it has not given any names.
Mr Lee noted that there will be consequences if such companies are identified.
He said: “In principle our view is you have to comply with Singapore laws and if you are doing something which is damaging the environment in Singapore then we have to take it very seriously.
“For example, if an oil tanker passes through the Strait of Singapore and discharges a whole lot of gunk which ends up in East Coast Park, we will track down that oil tanker and do something about it and we have done it before.”
He added: “We have requested (Indonesia) to provide us any evidence they may have on this. If any Singapore companies or companies which are present in Singapore are involved, we will take this up with them.”
Separately, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said he hopes Indonesia will try and control the fires in Sumatra.
Writing on his Facebook page on Thursday, he said: “I know it is not easy as it is a vast country and some of the fires could be sparked off by the dry weather. But it is a member of G20 and these countries aspire to show responsible global leadership.”
Mr Goh added Singapore too, must play its part too to help Indonesia as a good neighbour.
He suggested Singapore could offer some useful resources like a team of fire-fighters and aircraft to seed rain, if feasible.
S"pore PM Lee urges calm amid worsening haze conditions
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