#Transboundary Haze

[whattheabcxyz]

2024-07-09

Singapore

Couple get married in Batam to avoid giving up HDB flat here

Low risk of transboundary haze this year due to La Nina

SGH ward evacuated after cleaning robot catches fire while charging

Rich Chinese return to HK as government here steps up regulatory oversight following $3b money laundering case

New skills pathway into cybersecurity field launched for new entrants & mid-careerists

Health

Bitcoin mining not only wastes precious resources, it also harms people's health!

Technology

Scams flourish on UPI platform amid India’s digital payments push - just pay in cash or via card, ffs

Internet

Stolen Singaporean digital identities sold on dark web from $8; huge spike in such data being offered for sale

Nature

Singapore: Crocodile spotted swimming in waters near Yishun Dam

Art

^ You rarely hear about 19th century female painters, but here's one!

Sports

Ascott scores multi-year deal with Chelsea Football Club

Travel

Ong Beng Seng’s HPL opens new luxury resort in Tioman

[jcmarchi]

Study measures the psychological toll of wildfires

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/study-measures-the-psychological-toll-of-wildfires/

Study measures the psychological toll of wildfires

Wildfires in Southeast Asia significantly affect peoples’ moods, especially if the fires originate outside a person’s own country, according to a new study.

The study, which measures sentiment by analyzing large amounts of social media data, helps show the psychological toll of wildfires that result in substantial air pollution, at a time when such fires are becoming a high-profile marker of climate change.  

“It has a substantial negative impact on people’s subjective well-being,” says Siqi Zheng, an MIT professor and co-author of a new paper detailing the results. “This is a big effect.”

The magnitude of the effect is about the same as another shift uncovered through large-scale studies of sentiment expressed online: When the weekend ends and the work week starts, people’s online postings reflect a sharp drop in mood. The new study finds that daily exposure to typical wildfire smoke levels in the region produces an equivalently large change in sentiment.

“People feel anxious or sad when they have to go to work on Monday, and what we find with the fires is that this is, in fact, comparable to a Sunday-to-Monday sentiment drop,” says co-author Rui Du, a former MIT postdoct who is now an economist at Oklahoma State University.

The paper, “Transboundary Vegetation Fire Smoke and Expressed Sentiment: Evidence from Twitter,” has been published online in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management.

The authors are Zheng, who is the STL Champion Professor of Urban and Real Estate Sustainability in the Center for Real Estate and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT; Du, an assistant professor of economics at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business; Ajkel Mino, of the Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering at Maastricht University; and Jianghao Wang, of the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The research is based on an examination of the events of 2019 in Southeast Asia, in which a huge series of Indonesian wildfires, seemingly related to climate change and deforestation for the palm oil industry, produced a massive amount of haze in the region. The air-quality problems affected seven countries: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

To conduct the study, the scholars produced a large-scale analysis of postings from 2019 on X (formerly known as Twitter) to sample public sentiment. The study involved 1,270,927 tweets from 378,300 users who agreed to have their locations made available. The researchers compiled the data with a web crawler program and multilingual natural language processing applications that review the content of tweets and rate them in affective terms based on the vocabulary used. They also used satellite data from NASA and NOAA to create a map of wildfires and haze over time, linking that to the social media data.

Using this method creates an advantage that regular public-opinion polling does not have: It creates a measurement of mood that is effectively a real-time metric rather than an after-the-fact assessment. Moreover, substantial wind shifts in the region at the time in 2019 essentially randomize which countries were exposed to more haze at various points, making the results less likely to be influenced by other factors.

The researchers also made a point to disentangle the sentiment change due to wildfire smoke and that due to other factors. After all, people experience mood changes all the time from various natural and socioeconomic events. Wildfires may be correlated with some of them, which makes it hard to tease out the singular effect of the smoke. By comparing only the difference in exposure to wildfire smoke, blown in by wind, within the same locations over time, this study is able to isolate the impact of local wildfire haze on mood, filtering out nonpollution influences.

“What we are seeing from our estimates is really just the pure causal effect of the transboundary wildfire smoke,” Du says.

The study also revealed that people living near international borders are much more likely to be upset when affected by wildfire smoke that comes from a neighboring country. When similar conditions originate in their own country, there is a considerably more muted reaction.

“Notably, individuals do not seem to respond to domestically produced fire plumes,” the authors write in the paper. The small size of many countries in the region, coupled with a fire-prone climate, make this an ongoing source of concern, however.

“In Southeast Asia this is really a big problem, with small countries clustered together,” Zheng observes.

Zheng also co-authored a 2022 study using a related methodology to study the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the moods of residents in about 100 countries. In that case, the research showed that the global pandemic depressed sentiment about 4.7 times as much as the normal Sunday-to-Monday shift.

“There was a huge toll of Covid on people’s sentiment, and while the impact of the wildfires was about one-fifth of Covid, that’s still quite large,” Du says.

In policy terms, Zheng suggests that the global implications of cross-border smoke pollution could give countries a shared incentive to cooperate further. If one country’s fires become another country’s problem, they may all have reason to limit them. Scientists warn of a rising number of wildfires globally, fueled by climate change conditions in which more fires can proliferate, posing a persistent threat across societies.

“If they don’t work on this collaboratively, it could be damaging to everyone,” Zheng says.

The research at MIT was supported, in part, by the MIT Sustainable Urbanization Lab. Jianghao Wang was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

[streetartusa]

Art Attack Against a Hazy and Forgotten Threat

Art Attack Against a Hazy and Forgotten Threat

To coincide with World Environment Day, Lithuanian Artist Ernest Zacharevic reveals ‘Transboundary Haze’, a new artwork in Kuala Lumpur launching a collaboration with Greenpeace Malaysia, Splash and Burn and filmmakers Studiobirthplace. The project is the first in a series of creative intervention planned throughout the year, urging those in authority to hold polluters accountable for clean air…

[beautifulmorningstar]

Hello there! I saw your post about the lack of breathable air, and i was wondering if there is anything people outside of the area could do to help?

Hi and thank you for reaching out!

I'm not an expert on this, but as I understand it the most effective method right now is to raise awareness on what's happening. Since this is an issue that has happened in the past (and influenced some major laws, like the Transboundary Haze Act in Singapore), it seems that the major corporations behind these deforestation tactics (in order to clear land for palm oil plantations) keep getting away with it. (Also, as is often the case, the demand powers the supply.)

Please help spread this news, here are some sources:

Western (BBC) ;

SEAsia (Straits Times);

Indonesian (ANTARA) red skies explained;

Indonesian (ANTARA) health issues;

Indonesian (Jakarta Post) on accepting help;

Malaysian (FMT);

Malaysian (FMT) on what we SHOULD be doing;

Malaysian (FMT) local effects of the haze.

It seems that more pressure to push governments into taking action is what's needed.

If you understandably feel like taking more direct action, here are some donation sites and petition links I've come across:

WWF Indonesia - Save the Forest, Save the Future (Donation)

GreenPeace Indonesia - Let's Fight the Haze (Donation)

Change.org - Help Malaysians and Indonesians Hold Our Governments Accountable to Bring Perpetrators to Justice (Petition)

Change.org - Make Sustainably Sourced Palm Oil a Legal Requirement (Petition)

GreenPeace - Drop Dirty Palm Oil and Save the Orangutans (Petition)

Again, I'm not an expert on this, and to be frank I'm struggling to find better sources and coverage. However, any little assistance in spreading the issue is appreciated!

[hknshi]

We can now see headlines disseminated all over the news reporting that Malaysia has been engulfed by this transboundary steadily worsening haze issue again, with regions of the country blanketed in dusty, smoky air since Sept 5, worsening the Air Pollution Index (API) readings even more.

And that is why these pics' contrasts are quite low hahah

[symbiotic-science]

NUS biologists have discovered that haze affects the survival and development of butterflies, which could have an adverse impact on our environment.

The Southeast Asia (SEA) transboundary haze is a large-scale air pollution issue caused by the burning of regional peat forests to clear the land for agricultural purposes. Apart from causing economic losses for countries in this region, the haze is also hazardous to human health. The smoke causing the haze contains harmful gases (e.g. carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide), and tiny particles. Although there are studies on the impact of haze on human well-being, the effect on other species and our ecosystems is less clear. Insects are very sensitive to changes in air quality because the air reaches cells inside their body in a very direct way. Insects breathe via spiracles which are valve-like openings on the side of their bodies. These openings connect to internal tracheal tubes that branch repeatedly into finer tracheoles and eventually reach every cell inside the insect's body, where diffusion of gases occurs. This is not the case in our own bodies, where the air first diffuses into the blood system in our lungs before reaching cells.

A research team, led by Prof Antónia Monteiro from the Department of Biological Sciences, NUS discovered that smoke-induced toxicity to the environment and toxic chemicals found in haze resulted in a higher larval mortality and slower development in the caterpillars of the Squinting Bush Brown Butterfly (Bicyclus anynana). While this species lives naturally in Africa, relatives of this butterfly, from the genus Mycalesis, are commonly found in Singapore and in many forests of SEA. The experiments were conducted in a controlled laboratory setting using artificially generated smoke from burning incense coils.

The caterpillars were found to be affected in at least two ways. First, a large proportion of individual caterpillars did not survive before they could reach their adult stage due to the toxic chemicals in the smoke. Second, the smoke reduced the available food sources to the surviving caterpillars, either by damaging the plant which they feed on, or by preventing the caterpillars from locating it. Those individuals that developed in the smoke treatment took longer to reach the adult stage and turned into smaller adults than the caterpillars which developed in a cleaner air environment (simulating the air quality in SEA without haze), and thus were likely to suffer from reduced potential for reproduction.

Dr. Emilie Dion, a postdoctoral fellow on the team said, "This study is only the first step in understanding the impact of smoke on a population of insects. In the natural environment, the haze may affect multiple members of a complex food web, which includes their predators and this may lead to a less predictable outcome."

"Our findings provide an insight into the adverse effects of haze smoke on butterflies, which are sensitive to environmental disturbances. As they are easy to identify and monitor, butterflies could be useful as bioindicators of the health of an ecosystem for better haze management in the SEA region and other important biodiversity hotspots on our planet," added Prof Monteiro.

[profantahijau-blog]

Singapore shoppers given tool to choose products using ethical palm oil

A new online shopping tool gives Singaporeans the option of buying products made using ethical palm oil, a non-profit behind the scheme said on Thursday, as it looks to tackle the region's haze fires.

Launched by the Singapore-based People's Movement to Stop Haze (PM Haze) and advertising agency Havas Group, EcoCart is a Google Chrome 'plugin' that allows online shoppers to identify items that use sustainability produced palm oil.

As well as flagging items that do not contain sustainable palm oil, the tool suggests similar products that do.

"There are millions of products out there and it's virtually impossible to log every single on of them," said Benjamin Tay, executive director of PM Haze, an advocacy group that looks to find solutions to the region's annual haze problem.

"But the important thing is this provides a potential avenue for people to realize what products are sustainably produced or responsibly sourced," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The first of its kind to be built and launched, according to PM Haze, the tool has a target of getting Singaporeans to make 500,000 'switches' by the end of 2019 and hopes to expand it to identify other ethically produced goods if successful.

Globally, consumers and retailers are demanding more information about what they procure, buy and eat, to ensure its production and transportation does not damage the environment, or use illegal and unethical business practices.

In response, large consumer goods companies, restaurants and other businesses are looking at ways to attract more customers by offering sustainable products that are guaranteed as free of deforestation or slave labour, for example. https://akunpropremium.tumblr.com/

Palm oil is the world's most widely used edible oil, found in everything from margarine to biscuits, and soap to soups.

But the industry has come under scrutiny in recent years from green activists and consumers, who have blamed it for forest loss and fires, as well as exploitation of workers.

Indonesia is the world's biggest producer of palm oil and every year smoke from fires used to clear land for agricultural expansion clouds the skies over large parts of Southeast Asia, raising concerns about public health.

Peat fires in 2015 were estimated to have caused up to 100,000 premature deaths, according to the World Resources Institute, and cost the Indonesian economy $16.5 billion.

"It's a huge health risk to Singaporeans and our neighbors," said Tay.

EcoCart uses publicly available data from the Kuala Lumpur-based Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), a global watchdog with more than 4,000 members including producers, traders, buyers and green groups.

EcoCart currently works with major e-commerce websites Redmart.com, ColdStorage.com.sg and Fairprice.com.sg but hopes to expand with the help of other retailers.

Tay said it was hoped the online tool would eventually be used to identify other products that are ethically produced - like cocoa, coffee and paper - and go beyond Singapore.

"I see huge potential in using other kinds of products ... The [haze] problem is transboundary so we can't just offer this within Singapore," he said.

[don-lichterman]

Zacharevic pieces Scrabble tiles to form artwork on haze pollution

Zacharevic pieces Scrabble tiles to form artwork on haze pollution

Lithuanian-born artist Ernest Zacharevic has unveiled his latest art piece in Kuala Lumpur in conjunction with World Environment Day, to create awareness of transboundary haze pollution. The mural along Jalan Leboh Pasar Besar shows painted Scrabble tiles arranged to spell out ‘transboundary haze’, which calls on the authorities to hold polluters responsible for causing toxic air. This time…

[whattheabcxyz]

2023-06-06

Singapore

Shortage of licensed plumbers despite high pay

Hooligan female cyclist, together with driver of car whose bonnet she jumped on, both arrested - hope they throw that unhinged biker into an asylum where she belongs

Johor police nab 2 over incident involving Singapore travellers chased by fake cops in car

Mother-son pair arrested after flowerpots & knives thrown from Sembawang flat - son is autistic

Internet

Is This Phishy? helps you determine if the email you received is legit or a trap

Art

^ Bet you didn’t know Getty Images also offers free-for-use public domain pics!

Environment

Indonesian minister says transboundary haze not an issue any more - I thank Jokowi for this 🙏

Architecture

Suspension bridge in India collapses for the 2nd time - still in the process of being built ...at this rate they might as well scrap it, because who the hell would have the confidence to use this bridge even if it ever got completed!!!

Transport

Singapore: Launch of 1st 7th-generation MRT train draws more than 100 fans - that’s not a number to be proud of, frankly!

Singapore: LTA to build 20km of new cycling paths in Bukit Merah, Kallang & city area

Singapore: 5 bus services affected by NDP combined rehearsals

Finance

US sues Binance & founder Zhao over “web of deception” - only idiots would have believed these crypto scammers in the 1st place & be dumb enough to deal with them

Politics

Mike Pence officially enters 2024 Republican presidential race

Gossip

Brad Pitt says “vindictive” Angelina Jolie sold winery stake to “intentionally” damage his reputation - he should quit complaining ‘cos he only has himself to blame, for breaking his marriage vows & getting involved with that crazy b***h in the 1st place

Society

China national jailed just 33 years for attempted murder - pushed pregnant wife off cliff in Thailand; she survived but her foetus did not ...I think, this being a 3rd-world justice system, they forgot to convict him for the death of the unborn child

[thinktosee]

THE POLITICS AND PROFITS OF HAZE

The view from the north-east of singapore, Sep. 18, 2019. In the foreground, the grass has browned completely. In the background, the island of Ubin is no longer visible. 

A. INTRODUCTION

The haze hanging over the triangular region encompassing Malaysia, singapore and Indonesia, has been especially bad this time. Public health and rights are no doubt under siege. This is a result of slash and burn agricultural or palm farming in Indonesia and Borneo, coupled with an especially prolonged dry spell or drought. 

B. THE POLITICS of PALM

Firstly, the term “Transboundary haze”  - what does this mean? Is nature supposed to recognize artificial boundaries? We shouldn’t either. Borders are dumb and fake. They are designed to keep us isolated or penned in silos, with overpriced and useless military establishments, to protect the elites or one percenters, from the masses. Observe what the tribes can do to the Arabian oil installations a few days ago with a few armed drones (1). The most sophisticated armed forces in the world couldn’t stop that! It’s reminiscent of the Gerald Butler movie, “Angel has Fallen” which depicts how multiple armed drones can make the most protected person in the world so vulnerable (2). It is also a lesson about the unsustainability of bloated military expenditures and their fake relationship to national security. 

Back to the haze  - the fact it encompasses the region is the real issue. Remove the borders and the problem will be dealt with effectively. For now, everyone is in a blame game – it’s political (3). Truly, there appears to be a glaring lack of commitment to our common heritage among the political leaders in the region. That’s what borders do. Every issue or tragedy is compartmentalized. The people divided and weak. The ruling elites wouldn’t have it any other way.

The sources of the haze problem are no doubt, slash-burn farming and prolonged dry weather. The first an economic, while the second a climatic issue. Both are human-made. A corporate palm oil lobby is reported to have denied direct responsibility in the first instance. Instead, they pointed the finger at the small farmers next door to their plantations, for slashing and burning (4). Is this silly PR stunt a demonstration of responsible leadership? 

Image courtesy Google

Let’s be clear about something – the mega palm oil corporations are based in singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. Here they are : 

Image courtesy iuf.org

C. HIDING BEHIND THE SMALL FARMER

Image courtesy cartoonresource.com

Now let’s see, the small palm grower harvests his crop and then trucks same to his sophisticated processing plant where the palm seeds are crushed and processed into oil. Following that, he trucks the oil to the nearest seaport to load onto his multi-million dollar palm oil tankers for shipment to the consuming markets. Let’s try to understand this picture – the small grower does all these? How? He’s barely making ends meet with his small farm! 

Image courtesy iuf.org

Like most things named “business,” the big guys have the wherewithal – by this I mean cheap financing, cheap labour, modern factories, logistics and supply chains, political connections, PR agents, negligible tax exposure (singapore, Labuan, etc.) and large plantations, to game or monopolize the business. The small farmer sells his produce for processing, which are very costly contraptions and are therefore owned by the corporations. These few big guys control the business from A to Z. The small farmer is at their mercy in terms of the price for their produce and hence, for their survival. The corporations and their political patrons are merciful of course – they let him and his family subsist, as slave labour in the plantation. Bullying as this has few equals. 

D. WOOL OVER OUR EYES 

Image courtesy Pinterest

Some of these corporations have “audited” sustainable practices (5). That is, they are officially certified to be environmentally-friendly. I used to work for a major petroleum company. I can testify to what their “audit for corporate and environmental risk management” is worth – zilch. That’s because many employees and contractors for a corporation are careerists. They are not paid or needed to think critically. Instead, they adhere robotically to the commercial imperatives of their corporate culture. Which reminds me of something the US Secretary of State in the 1970s, Dr. Henry Kissinger reportedly said about his staff – they may not be competent, but are loyal (6). That’s what “institutionalized meritocracy” is about folks. We only need to be loyal to be successful in our career. Seriously, unless we start to take things into our hands and work positively to eradicate the causes of the haze, nothing is going to change.

Here’s a story of irresponsible or, I should add, loyal leadership : 

M/T Kirki, sans her bow. Image courtesy Amazon.com

Many years ago, a major maritime accident occurred off the pristine waters of Australia. It centered on an old rust bucket, named Kirki. The subsequent investigation by the Australian maritime transport authority (a very competent bunch of pros) discovered glaring omissions to safety by the oil company and the ship managers concerned (7,8). The same oil company also regrettably was involved in a tragic accident and oil spill in the US Gulf coast years later (9). The financial claims for this are stupendous, illustrating the massive affliction to life and the environment (10). Tragedies as these are avoidable if we had more professionals and less careerists in charge.

Political and corporate leadership built on old boys’ club, ethnicity, family, clan, religious or masonic network is NO LEADERSHIP. We the People should not look to them to solve our problems or to rule over us.

E. WHAT WE CAN DO

Image courtesy picpedia.org

Hold those responsible DIRECTLY accountable.

Years ago, I wrote to the governments of the region about tackling the haze. A simple solution was proposed – haul the corporate heads of the major palm companies before the world’s mass media and ask them collectively how they are going to solve the problem they have created! Here’s an excerpt :

“There is little benefit in a blame game………

Actively involve and hold accountable……the corporations having a direct or indirect stake in the blazing landholdings. By this, a simple call to the CEOs of the companies to step forward and give a blanket undertaking that they will do all within their power…..to reduce and ….eliminate the threat of haze-causing fires on their landholdings. The region’s public health demands this. This undertaking will be made public at a press conference called by ASEAN ministers and attended by the CEOs. The CEOs are to be held personally responsible for the fires not only within their landholdings, but also to those which their companies have a commercial arrangement – their supply chain. I am sure this complies with acceptable sustainable requirements.” (11)

Sadly, nothing was done then, and nothing again now. The reason I believe, remains the cozy and symbiotic relationship among the political, business and media elites in the region - a clubby bunch, as shown by this chart. Four ASEAN countries among the top 10. 

Source : Forbes; IMF; The Economist (12)

Some years ago too, I wrote to the governments in the region about coordinating their efforts to deal with climate changes, especially the need to develop strategies and technologies for abating same. Again, nothing was done, as we can see from this current and intense dry spell, which has normalized in the last few years.

F. CONCLUSION

Image courtesy news.mongabay.com

The haze will go on recurring. It is an evironmental disaster. We will be wise to avoid blaming the small farmers. They have been victimized enough (13). Farming is their livelihood. Stick the blame where it truly belongs – irresponsible, avaricious and crony political, corporate and media leaders. Hold them accountable. It is our right. 

In the Spirit of David Cornelius Singh

David’s father

Email : davidnfather@gmail.com

https://thinktosee.tumblr.com/

Sources/References

1. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/14/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-refineries-drone-attack.html

2. https://angelhasfallen.movie/

3. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southeastasia-haze/malaysian-pm-to-write-to-indonesias-leader-as-row-over-haze-flares-idUSKCN1VX0VE

4. https://www.todayonline.com/world/we-didnt-start-fire-say-malaysian-palm-oil-firms

5. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/18485/greenpeace-investigation-wilmar-brands-palm-oil-deforestation-indonesia/

6. Memorandum of Conversation, Washington, April 11, 1973, 294, U.S. State Dept. Archives

7. https://www.amsa.gov.au/marine-environment/incidents-and-exercises/kirki-21-july-1991

8. https://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/investigation_reports/1991/mair/mair33/

9. https://www.dw.com/en/the-legacy-of-deepwater-horizon-what-researchers-learned-about-oil-spills/a-37662810

10. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bp-deepwaterhorizon/bp-deepwater-horizon-costs-balloon-to-65-billion-idUSKBN1F50NL

11. Letter to ASEAN ambassadors dated Sep 29, 2015 titled : “Lazy, Hazy days of Autumn.”

12. http://infographics.economist.com/2016/Cronyism_index/

13. https://news.mongabay.com/2018/04/indonesian-farmers-file-judicial-review-on-palm-oil-fund-as-big-companies-dominate-the-fund/

[buffetlicious]

The recent period hot and dry weather followed by sudden rain triggered the mass blooming of the Trumpet Trees (Tabebuia rosea) across the island. We call it the Singapore Sakura Season. The blooms typically comes in white, pinkish white and hot pink colours, just like sakura or cherry blossom. They are pretty to admire at but remember not to park your car underneath the tree as the flowers are rather sticky and you will have a hard time clearing it off the surface of the vehicle. Sorry for the hazy pictures, this is due to transboundary haze from a certain neighbouring country’s uncontrolled slash and burn method of clearing vegetation for agricultural purposes.

[foxy-woods]

'Let the data speak for itself': Malaysian minister on transboundary haze from Indonesia

[southeastasianists]

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will turn 50 on 8 August – an anniversary that is sure to be celebrated with more style than substance. Yes, the group has achieved a lot since 1967, but one cannot help but feel it’s presently in the grip of a midlife crisis – seeking, but failing, to find a new sense of purpose and identity. Asean leaders need to break from tradition and find the courage to make difficult decisions if the group is to flourish over the next 50 years.

Most, if not all, of Asean’s most prominent backers point to continued peace between the ten member states as one of the bloc’s biggest achievements since its founding – and rightly so. The group has also succeeded in putting major powers in the same room, even in difficult times, through forums such as the annual Asean and East Asia Summits. Some will even flag up Myanmar’s turn to democracy as a uniquely Asean achievement.

Regional economic links have also deepened, thanks in large part to the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement. Last year, intra-Asean flows of foreign direct investment accounted for 25% of what the region received in total, up from 15% in 2010. The proportion of intra-Asean trade in goods to the bloc’s total shipments also stands at around the same level, while more than 40% of tourist arrivals come from within the region.

Trade and investment ties are only likely to mature in the years ahead, with Asean projected to remain one of the fastest-growing economic blocs in the world. Indeed, the Economist Intelligence Unit expects the region as a whole to grow at an annual average rate of about 4.5% over the coming years – an impressive rate in the context of a global economy that will struggle to muster 2% per annum.

A few Asean-led initiatives will help in this regard. In particular, the progress of the Asean Single Window is one to watch. Its full implementation would greatly ease intra-regional trade as the integration of each member states’ National Single Windows speeds up customs clearance. In addition, the bloc’s Banking Integration Framework is also gaining momentum. The initiative opens the doors for “Qualified Asean Banks” to operate in other member states without much discrimination.

So where’s the midlife crisis?

The answer partly lies in the half-baked formation of the Asean Community in 2015. This much-vaunted establishment – which would encompass the three blueprints of economic (AEC), political-security (APSC) and socio-cultural (ASCC) cooperation – at the end of that year took place without any real change. For the most part, the group’s response has been to kick the can down the road – to 2025 – putting a stamp on new(ish) “blueprints” for said community building.

The midlife crisis also stems from Asean’s inability, and dare I say occasional unwillingness, to respond in a unified way to challenges both old and new. The territorial disputes between a number of member states and China in the South China Sea could be more quickly resolved, and to the greater benefit of claimants in Asean, if there was less bickering within the group about communiqués. There are some structures in place to mitigate the yearly transboundary haze that engulfs large swaths of the region, but enforcement remains weak.

Not surprisingly, Asean has taken a hands-off approach to a host of festering domestic issues that have regional consequences: including the persecution of the Rohingya in Myanmar and the deteriorating security situation in the southern Philippines (to name just two). Crucially, there is still little recognition that peace is not simply the absence of war. The bloc is thriving economically, which is a double-edged sword because such performance has bred complacency. Nothing of substance has been proposed at a regional level to respond to a slowing China and inevitable labour displacement through automation.

The longer Asean dithers on its grand ambitions and these regional challenges, the greater the risk that it starts to lose whatever faith has been placed in it being a responsive regional institution – and this vicious cycle will only worsen. The heads of Asean member states should not let the group’s 50th anniversary go to waste. It will mark yet another opportunity to undertake a wholesale rethink of how the region should manage its affairs.

Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts. Tough choices have to be made. Courage and political will are required to rearrange, reassemble and reconstruct the basic pillars that have held the group together in a fragile unity at the expense of a more nimble and effective body. Clearly, Asean’s principle of non-interference in domestic affairs and its strict adherence to decision by consensus is not suitable to the present-day reality. Moreover, it is time to give the Asean Secretariat some actual powers and responsibilities instead of simply talking about doing so.

It is about time that Asean acts like the grown up that it is. But don’t hold your breath.

Miguel Chanco, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s lead analyst for the Asean region, holds a master’s degree in international political economy from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and has been researching and writing about the region since 2010.

[malangtoday-blog]

BNPB Sebut Kualitas Udara Riau dan Kalteng Kategori Sedang

JawaPos.com – Badan Nasional Penanggulangan Bencana (BNPB) mendeteksi kualitas udara di Provinsi Riau dan Kalimantan Tengah (Kalteng) masuk dalam kategori sedang. Hal ini terjadi karena masih adanya titik kebakaran hutan dan lahan di wilah tersebut.

“BNPB mencatat titik panas di Riau sebanyak 56 titik, sedangkan Kalteng 144 titik,” kata Plt Kepala Pusat Data, Informasi dan Humas BNPB, Agus Wibowo dalam keterangannya, Selasa (13/8).

Menurut Agus, titik panas juga terdekteksi di Kalimantan Barat (Kalbar) sebanyak 104 titik. Namun kualitas udara masih dalam kategori baik. Sementara itu, asap juga terdeteksi di wilayah Sumatera khususnya Sumatera Selatan (Sumsel). “Sempat terdeteksi arah sebaran asap keluar dari batas wilayah negara atau transboundary haze. Asap teridentifikasi di wilayah Kalimantan Barat dan Serawak, Malaysia,” ucap Agus.

ILUSTRASI: Kabut asap. (MHD AKHWAN/RIAU POS/ JAWA POS GROUP)

Berdasarkan data BMKG, lanjut Agus, pantauan citra satelit Himawari menunjukkan arah angin di Sumatera dan Kalimatnan pada umumnya dari tenggara ke barat laut – timur. Sebaran asap di Riau, Sumsel dan Kalteng menyebar ke arah barat laut, sedangkan Kalbar menyebar ke araha barat laut-timur.

Menghadapi ancaman kebakaran hutan dan lahan (karhutla) yang lebih besar, kata Agus, BNPB menambah kekuatan udara. Total helikopter yang mendukung operasi pemadaman berjumlah 36, dengan rincian 28 unit untuk water bombing dan 8 lainnya unit patroli.

“Sedangkan pemadaman melalui darat, total personel gabungan yang terlibat dan tersebar di sejumlah wilayah sebanyak 9.072 orang,” pungkas Agus.

Editor : Bintang Pradewo

Reporter : Muhammad Ridwan

Source : https://malangtoday.net/flash/nasional/bnpb-sebut-kualitas-udara-riau-dan-kalteng-kategori-sedang/

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