API: Released?

The nation is progressing. The rakyat have now been entrusted with the potentially explosive information of knowing the Air Pollution Index (API). It is being hailed as a major step forward for transparency and openness. But, cynical as we are at CIJ, we can’t help but think that the reality doesn’t meet the hype.

First off, the decision to put the figures under the Official Secrets Act was blatantly ludicrous. We’ve sunk to such depths that being allowed to know the hazards of breathing deeply is considered a revolution in openness. We are still operating under a system that allows this information to be re-classified, if the Government wills it. Given his statements the day before the figures were released, if the current Deputy Prime Minister was in charge, the API would still be under wraps.

Secondly, there is still a lot of information about air pollution that we’re not being given. It’s possible that this information isn’t being collected – but we don’t know that either. A bit of a chemistry lesson here. Different air pollutants can mix together to create more air pollution than would exist if they didn’t meet – a case of one plus one equals three. The pollution from Sumatra reached the city, mixed with the pollution already in the air then, and possibly led to a worse situation than would have existed if the same pollution hit an area with different pollutants (where one plus one equals two).

To find out whether this happened, it’s important to know what the ‘background’ pollution is – what the normal pollutants are in urban areas. There are also point sources of pollution, factories, oil refineries and the like. These could contribute to an increase in the API. But there isn’t any information in the public realm about if or where these point sources are, and if they contributed to the horrendous haze.

Basically the API figures on their own don’t tell us enough. They don’t point to long-term solutions for solving the haze. Only continual monitoring, with the release of figures on what the pollution comprises and where it comes from, coupled with the already declared assistance to our Indonesian colleagues, is going to yield results.

Another thing that is disconcerting was how unprepared we were, even in the short term to deal with the haze. Was there no warning that there were fires in Sumatra? Did they spring up overnight? Was the seasonal dry spell somehow unseasonal? Perhaps if we had access to the API figures from coastal areas on the Straits of Melaka, we'd be able to assess whether the haze should have caught us unawares.

This lack of preparedness was complemented by the lack of information on what was happening. When the Emergency was declared, nobody knew what it meant. Nobody knew what the guidelines were, whether there was a curfew. This is information that could have been published as soon as the haze was recognised as a potentially serious problem. Health leaflets could have been printed. Mobile stations set up to provide information to the concerned public. It’s amazing how well the Government’s party machinery can swing into action when a General Election is declared, but how slow the Government was in responding to the haze!

A Freeedomof Information Act would require Government agencies to routinely publish figures that are of public interest. All figures on air pollution would obviously come under this category. That way, experts and the interested public could monitor air pollution trends and push for prosecution of air pollution offenders or more appropriate guidelines for action in the haze season. Emergency guidelines would be published as they’re formulated. And if they’re only formulated at the last minute, the public can push for a more responsible approach from their elected representatives.

While the haze was hazardous to our health, it was compounded by uncertainty and ignorance. Both of these could have been avoided if information had been made more freely available.