Over the past week, there had been nothing more headline-grabbing than the haze crisis in the region. The response in the online world was spontaneous, especially on last Wednesday night, when the PSI reading of 190 (at 8pm) shot up to 290 (at 9pm). My Twitter and Facebook feed were flooded.
"Must be typo, lah. It looks the same outside leh". That was what many people thought. After all, at 190, it was already the highest since 1997 when we had the worst haze crisis prior to this year. But the PSI records kept breaking, and I was really amused to see how quickly we adjusted our mindset.
Just 5 days ago, a "150" will draw a reaction like "wah, damn jialat now!"
Now, that reaction will only come with a "350".
In fact, even a "250" reading is drawing responses like "oh, it's getting better".
See, the power of the "New Normal" in this era.
Actually, the regional haze crisis had been an annual affair for at least 2 decades, but we've always been lucky not to find ourselves within the dense plume of smoke, due to favourable wind conditions. Until now. With just a change in weather conditions over the Pacific, wind directions differed and we became the direct victims. Unfortunately, we weren't as prepared as we should have been.
In some ways or another, the unfolding and worsening haze crisis over Thursday and Friday became a little platform for employees to compare one company's welfare against another. First, there was discussion in my Whatsapp chat groups to compare how soon our companies were going to provide the N95 masks to the employees. Then, there was also hearsay about so-and-so companies giving employees time-off or the opportunity to work from home. Soon, the attention was placed on foreign workers and how they were still working unprotected in the hazardous haze in the open.
Personally I thought that MOM could do more by announcing a partial-stop work order during the hours when the air quality reached hazardous levels. This should apply especially to outdoor construction workers, who were undertaking strenuous work and were most vulnerable in inhaling the acrid smoke. The employers could impose a break for these workers to stay indoors during that few hours when the average PSI was above 300. Being exposed to highly dense pollutants for a few hours straight could well be enough to cause discomfort and result in lower productivity. I feel that there should at least be a better balance between economic growth, and the social well-being of workers.
During this still-ongoing haze crisis, we've also seen vocal keyboard warriors:
a) People complaining about the haze
b) People complaining about the people who complained about the haze
c) People complaining about the people complaining about the people who complained about the haze
Cool. At least the haze hasn't clouded our Singaporean identity--We complain, we're Kiasu (when snapping up N95 masks), and we're Kiasi.
Let's all pull through this in one piece.
人生是黑白的.
11:01 PM <3
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