SINGAPORE - Mr Lee warned that it was hard to tell how the haze situation would develop. It could last for a few weeks, or even until Sumatra's dry season ends in September. He said: "We will need to adapt our response to suit the changing situation, and protect ourselves in practical and sustainable ways."
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PM Lee's press conference on haze, June 20
An edited transcript of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's the press conference on haze
PM Lee: Good afternoon, everybody. We are here because of the haze, we are all affected by it and today I'd just like to share how we would address the problem and also to explain to Singaporeans how each of us can protect ourselves and our families.
Haze is not a new problem for us in Singapore or for Malaysia, our neighbours, but this episode is more recent than what we have experienced in recent years. This afternoon, the three-hour number or the PSI reached 371 - it's come down a little bit since then - which is a new high. If we look at the 24-hour number, the last reading at 2pm was in the range 175 to 207, which is in the unhealthy to the very unhealthy range, and our health advisories are based on the 24-hour PSIs.
So over the next few days according to our Met people, the wind and weather conditions are likely to stay about the same as they are today and so we expect the haze to persist for some time.
I think we know the source of the problem, which is illegal burning by errant companies in Sumatra. We're actively engaging the Indonesian government to solve the problem. Foreign Minister K. Shanmugam and Minister (for Environment and Water Resources) Vivian Balakrishnan have been in contact with their Indonesian counterparts, they spoke to them yesterday, and our CEO of the National Environment Agency, Andrew Tan, is in Indonesia today having a meeting with the Indonesian officials. And I am also writing to President Yudhoyono to register our serious concerns and to reiterate our offer to help Indonesia to solve this problem.
We've provided satellite hotspot data and images to the Indonesians to help them to identify the companies which are responsible, and some Indonesian officials have suggested that these errant companies may be linked to Singapore and Malaysia. So we've asked them for the evidence… and if any Singapore companies are involved or any companies which are present in Singapore are involved, then we will take up this matter with the companies.
But our priority and my priority is to protect the health and safety of Singaporeans, and especially of the vulnerable groups like the young and the elderly and those who have heart or lung diseases, for example, asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). I think we can expect a higher incidence of respiratory diseases under these conditions; it happens every time, it's natural, and our Ministry of Health (MOH) medical system, the doctors, the polyclinics, the hospitals, they're all on alert and ready for this, to treat the patients.
So if anybody, if you fall ill or anybody you know falls ill and it's a respiratory problem particularly, please see your doctor or your GP promptly. And if anybody needs financial help with their medical expenses, we will make sure that it's available.
| Haze continues to hover at dangerous levels on June 20 Click on thumbnail to view (Photos: ST, TNP, The Star, AFP, Reuters) |
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MOH will be implementing a special scheme where young Singaporeans, the vulnerable young ones 18 and below, elderly Singaporeans 65 and above, those who are Community Health Assist Scheme card holders, those who are on Public Assistance and medical fee exemption cardholders, who have respiratory problems or conjunctivitis because of the haze, they can see their doctors, pay $10 and MOH will settle the rest of the bill.
It's a special programme, special scheme to deal with this exceptional situation. But for most of us who are in good health, I think we'll be fine if we just take basic precautions like limiting outdoor activities and staying indoors, where possible, depending on how bad the haze is. Starting today, later this evening, the Government will hold daily press briefings to update Singaporeans on the haze situation and to recommend protective measures for the next day, for the day ahead, and NEA's (National Environment Agency) website will be kept updated with information and with the guidelines and advice. Our ministries and agencies are prepared, the Haze Taskforce has met several times to coordinate all the agencies' plans and the Crisis Management Group for Haze has also been convened.
We can't 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 September/October. So we will need to adapt our response to suit the changing situation and to protect ourselves in practical and sustainable ways. To oversee the overall national effort, I've set up the Haze Inter-Ministerial Committee. It will be chaired by Minister (for Defence) Ng Eng Hen and it will have representatives from Environment and Water Resources, from MFA (Foreign Affairs), from MCI (Communications and information), from Health, from MSF (Social and Family Development), from MOE (Education) and from MOM (Manpower).
The ministerial committee will focus on protecting public health and safety, on working with Indonesians to mitigate the haze at the source and to maintain our economic and social resilience. It will review the guidelines for protecting vulnerable groups, it'll ensure that society and businesses, and especially essential services continue to operate and it will issue clear guidelines on the protective measures depending on the PSI level and projections.
So I ask Singaporeans: Please remain calm, look after one another. Watch out for your neighbours, especially the older Singaporeans or the kids and if any of them have respiratory problems, please advise them or bring them to a clinic immediately.
And if you have any questions, contact your RCs, your resident committees, your grassroots or your MPs, they will have advice for you and assistance for you and I'm quite confident that we can manage this problem and we can go through it if we stay together and work on it together.
Dr Ng Eng Hen:
Prime Minister has spelt out the specific steps the Government are taking to engage the Indonesian government to fix the problem at source. I'd like to make some comments with regard to the inter -ministerial committee and haze taskforce.
First, I'd like to point out that the scale of the problem is large. The source of the problem is almost 300 km away - that's the distance from Singapore to Pekanbaru… some say Ground Zero. The ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre shows that the hotspots are scattered over central Sumatra and which itself is quite large, particularly in the Riau province, dense haze is dispersed over a wide area measuring thousands of square kilometres with Singapore in the midst of it.
So first point - the scale of this problem is very large. Like it or not, for the haze to improve, we are dependent on the Indonesian government to take measures to address the source of this environmental disaster. In the meantime, we in Singapore must deal with the effects of the haze here because it's likely to persist. We did not create the problem but our response would decide whether the haze overwhelms us or not. We must not let the haze overwhelm us. The haze will test our economic and social resilience.
There are things that we can do to protect ourselves and get on with our lives and keep Singapore going. As immediate measures, the ministerial committee and taskforce will focus on a few priorities.
First, as Prime Minister has said, that the vulnerable groups are protected. MOH is working with GPs and polyclinics to ensure that these groups are more closely monitored for complications and have access to medical treatment and Prime Minister has brought up some details about what we are doing and special schemes.
Second, that businesses and communities in Singapore can carry on. MEWR and MOH will provide more information to help Singaporeans anticipate what the haze situation might be. .. Specifically, clear guidelines for distinct groups and activities, especially persons performing essential services, security forces and those working outdoors. We have made contingency plans that we want for various groups and scenarios and now we are detailing to make sure that we have enough equipment and facilities to keep Singapore going for these various groups and scenarios.
Third, we want to give as much information as possible to Singaporeans in as timely a manner as possible… we acknowledge that there are gaps and we're trying to plug them. Basically as Prime Minister has said is to have daily briefings and updates starting from today and also dedicated information portals for the public to access key information and what they can themselves do.
So following this press conference, Director of Medical Services and a rep from MEWR will clarify for the public the use of guidelines and PSI readings. I recognise there have been some confusion, so we want to clarify on what basis they're put out, what it means for various groups, what you can do , so on and so forth. So immediately after this press conference we've asked them to give the press a technical brief.
I'd like to conclude by saying that Government will take the lead to deal with this haze, we'll work with Singaporeans, we do all we can to protect ourselves. Let's depend on, trust each other, we will get through this haze together.
Dr Vivian Balakrishnan:
This is the worst haze that Singapore has ever confronted. The latest three-hour PSI is 312 but in fact it was even higher at 371 about two hours earlier. We expect the 24-hour PSI, which has already crossed 200 in the southern part of Singapore, we expect that over the course of the next few hours... by tomorrow, that the entire Singapore island which is actually a very small place will be in the range in excess of 200 PSI.
The cause of this we all know, there has been an escalation in the number of hotspots in Sumatra, the satellite pictures showed at least 173 hotspots detected on Jun 19 and the combination of dry weather and the wind direction from the west and south-west has funnelled all this haze across the sea to Singapore.
Unfortunately for us the dry weather is going to persist perhaps for another week or so and we don't anticipate any changes in the wind direction. So what all this means is that the situation will persist, perhaps even get worse in the days to come.
So because this is the situation, we all need to make appropriate adjustments. We've already heard that we need to take special precautions for the elderly, for children, for people with heart or respiratory and other medical problems and there will be appropriate medical facilities made available, including financial assistance that the PM has already alluded to.
But in addition to that even normal healthy Singaporeans and others living in our midst will also have to take some precautions, especially if you're going to be engaged in prolonged or vigorous outdoor activities. So we will have to give more advice later on on the appropriate level of precautions. The key point to remember as we take all these precautions is that life has to go on.
This is not a one-off event, this is not even a simple event that's going to last one or two days, we have to find a way to adapt and to take appropriate precautions so that life can go on.
Now, on the international front, we need urgent and we need definitive action on the ground at source. And, quite frankly, I understand many Singaporeans' anger and frustration, distress at the situation and they want to see action urgently as well.
Because we share this sense of urgency, both Minister Shanmugam and myself have been in touch with our counterparts in Indonesia and we've emphasised the seriousness, the gravity of the situation with which Singaporeans and other residents in our island take this situation. Right now, the CEO of NEA, Mr Andrew Tan, is in Jakarta, right now even as we speak for emergency meeting that was convened by the Indonesians, so the point is that we will do our best to work with the Indonesians to resolve this problem because it's worth remembering that there are also many Indonesians in Riau who are suffering also as a result of this haze.
In addition to this, NEA will also be publishing on a daily basis high resolution detailed satellite photographs and we will also be publishing the geographical coordinates of every single hotspot that we detect. We hope that this information will be useful to others who will help identify the source of these hotspots and the companies involved. The bottom line is that no company has the right to pollute the air at the expense of Singaporeans' health and well-being.
Thank you.
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