My mum came back from the market and said one uncle was burning lots of lots of incense papers merrily at our block's void deck. She was dismayed that these people still doing more harm to the environment when we are facing the most severe air pollution crisis we ever have in Singapore history. I agree, but old habits die hard, just like our Indonesian neighbor, they turn a deaf ear to our pleading even though we have requested many years not to slash and burn their forest using such cheap method. Look at photos below and you will know how bad is the air pollution.
 |
| Photo by EPA, taken from Yahoo!News |
 |
| Photo by EPA, taken from Yahoo!News |
Ever since the haze started on last Friday (14 June, 2013), my next door neighbor has not stopped burning the joss stick everyday. When I told him about the PSI reading, he simply shrugged off and said his "shen" (deity) is more important than anything and offering incense stick is to show his sincerity. But I believe the deity will understand the air pollution is not a joke, it can kill! So what's the point of praying when you lost your life? Many people seem to get the priority wrong including our Indonesian neighbor, they put their economy before their environment, they will have to pay for it one day!
One more month is the "Hungry Ghost Festival", I hope the government can educate these people how to love their environment more by burning less incense paper. It's still not effective by just playing occasional "Save my world" on TV, more should be done to educate these of group of people especially deep belief inherited long ago. The uncles and aunties need to be taught why burning incense paper is no difference from Indonesian burning their Sumatra forest. They are harming their loved ones when they pollute the air! All of us have responsibility to leave a clean environment for our next generation.
No comments:
Post a Comment