The Air Still Stinks

The three hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading hit 113 at 3pm on Sunday. A better index of the deteriorating situation is the number of people suddenly developing dry coughs, no thanks to breathing in ash content of the free smoke from down south. Maybe it's time for the expensive messenger boy to hand carry another large white envelope to Indonesia. Preferably filled with cash incentive to do something about the forest fires. If the gutter politician can blow hundreds of millions on a kiddie version of the Olympics, he can surely cough up the money for our health's sake.

Whether he gets an invite to join the world leaders who are attending president-elect Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's   inauguration party on October 20th is another matter. Blowing $387 million is rather hard to forget, especially when the initial YOG budget was $104 million. And there's that miscellaneous charge of $79.8 million for "Other Costs" that has yet to be explained to the public.

If smoke continues to get into our eyes, year after year, it would be an utter waste of public funds for Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong to splurge more millions on his plans for developing the Jurong Lake District. Latter starts with physically combining existing Jurong Lake Park, Japanese and Chinese Gardens which, on their own,  are already three areas already too polluted for outdoor activities. Joining them as one big arena for sucking in bad air is definitely no improvement for our health. Better to build a large dome and aircondition it, like they did at Marina Bay Gardens. Just make sure there's sufficient natural light let in for the grass to grow. Even Kai Kai and Jia Jia, the pandas from PRC, have an airconditioned outdoor frolicking area of their own. Of course it's not going to happen, only foreigners get special deals.

just the thing for prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity