RONALD LEE: There’s a toxic smell in the air, and it’s not just Punggol residents who are feeling it.
The National Environment Agency said at the end of February that the smell is likely to be related to a fire at the Tanjong Langsat landfill in the Johor Pasir Gudang factory region.
That fire has reportedly since been extinguished.
But it’s now the end of March, and the smell is just as overpowering as ever – from Bishan to Hougang, even Yishun, Tampines and Jurong.
The problem is the NEA doesn’t seem to acknowledge the problem.
It continues to maintain that the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) remains in the “Good” to “Moderate” range across Singapore.
That’s as good as calling Singaporeans fools – we know what we smell, and the air can be suffocating at times, especially in the later hours of the night.
Singaporeans have lived through years of haze blowing our way from Indonesia.
We know when something doesn’t smell right.
How can we trust the government when it can wield statistics to tell us what’s contrary to our senses?
Rather than tell us our fears are unfounded, perhaps the government should tell us what it is doing about the problem.
There has been no word on that so far, and that’s worrying.
Very soon, the annual Indonesian haze will be blowing our way yet again.
Will the NEA tell us this year that our noses are just overly-sensitive?
