Opposition Leaders Criticizes Ban on Comments about Haze
11/8/97
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Headline: Opposition Leaders Criticizes Ban on Comments about Haze
Source: CNN
Date: 11/8/97
Copyright 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (CNN) -- Malaysian
opposition leaders on Saturday demanded that the
government rescind an order forbidding scientists
from commenting on the nation's haze problem.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's government
barred teachers and scientists in state
universities Wednesday from speaking publicly on
the haze because it said those comments were
hurting tourism, Malaysia's big foreign exchange
earner.
"There cannot be a more shortsighted and
self-defeating decision as the one made by the
Cabinet," said Lim Kit Siang, secretary general of
the Democratic Action Party, who pointed out that
the role of academicians as critics of society
should be respected.
Newspapers were also critical. "Censoring out the
scientists might have an equally negative effect
at home," said an editorial in Saturday's New
Straits Times.
After several days of clear skies, the haze from
thousands of forest fires in Indonesia has
reappeared over parts of Malaysia and Singapore
this week, forcing some flights to be canceled.
Malaysia and Indonesia announced Friday they would
step up joint efforts to control the fires, which
have now ignited underground peat and coal
deposits.
The smog has been caused by brush and forest fires
in neighboring Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan
regions, many lit deliberately to clear land for
planting and now burning out of control.
It has prompted health alerts in neighboring
Singapore and Malaysia and has drifted as far as
the Philippines.
But weather data showed on Saturday that winds
from a tropical depression in the South China Sea
are blowing smog from Indonesian fires away from
Singapore and Malaysia.
Officials said 30 Indonesian cities remained
covered by smog, although visibility in Jambi on
Sumatra had improved marginally.
U.S. military planes are also helping to fight the
fires, dropping loads of water on the worst-hit
areas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.