Sun2Surf.com - The haze, which has been hanging in the air like a dreary blanket for many long weeks now, is a suffocating reminder that the authorities are still quite impotent to address the root of this persistent transboundary problem.

The long-suffering public will remember that ever since the major haze episode of 1997, when a sense of panic over the air quality even gripped the people momentarily, there have been numerous official pronouncements about this and that measure, ranging from earnestly enforcing the ban on open burning to establishing an Asean-level inter-governmental panel on transboundary haze.

But even such impressive sounding governance mechanisms have come to sound like so much hot air when the haze returns every year almost without fail when the replanting season approaches.

If it's any consolation, however, information about the air quality is now routinely provided. In contrast, just a decade ago, official paranoia over poor air pollutant index readings because of their adverse impact on tourism had reflected badly on the low priority placed on the people's health in comparison to tourist dollars. It also showed up the opacity of official institutions in matters of urgent public concern.

More pressingly, it is a point of much disquiet that the agencies concerned are unable to institute a problem-solving mechanism that can identify the risk factors, home in on causative agents, strengthen regulatory processes and the enforcement apparatus and jump-start contingency procedures that are necessary to contain the situation.

All our vaunted claims of progress, prosperity and national achievement seem strangely hollow when schoolchildren preparing for Merdeka Day celebrations have to brave the ash-filled air outside the classroom with a pathetic dust mask as their only protection.

Even more distressing is the fact that given the limited success of official measures to address this problem to date, hoping for an effective and lasting solution could only come from an overdose of optimism.