Indonesian HAZE • Naming the Instrument rather the Crime

A serial killer is on the loose. Forensics, summoned to the scene of the homicide, finds a baseball bat beside the bludgeoned body. At the press conference, police announce that they have a severe case of the ‘baseball bat’. The killer commits a series of murders. Every time a body is discovered, the public is told that the spectre of the ‘baseball bat’ has resurfaced and that they are working to eradicate the Instrument. The terms ‘homicide’ and ‘killer’ are never mentioned.

Carla Bruni • Chanson triste  ∆

The Haze is merely the Instrument that kills. The Crime is Arson, and the perpetrator is the Arsonist, period. The misguided terminology encouraged by the politically correct and commercially compromised media has placed affected people in a hamster’s cartwheel propelled by the Indonesian government that condones the repeated arson.

The government's actions are a pathology to civilization, terroristic to man and nature and an unprecedented stain to good governance. It is a case study between greed, capitalism, diminished ‘state’ responsibility and, a form of mental illness, as demonstrated by the President himself who, in a recent address, solemnly 'apologised' to affected nations for the grief the fires have caused but, in the same breath, ticked off his officials for exposing the arsonists.

Under the government's diabolical watch, the Haze has been a yearly occurrence for the past two decades. In a month, it will disappear and relieve people in the affected nations not only of their misery but their capacity to remember what they endured.

In nine months, the commercially driven fire-starters will again return to terrorise the frenzied 'hamsters' into naming the Instrument rather the Crime.

Words - Tommy Peters

Postscript: - 1. While Jacques Brel renders the self-explanatory Ne me quitte pas, Carla Bruni pulls-off a simple and elegant chanson in Chanson triste, in which she says :-  • A Song just for you • A Song, it's a little sad I think • Three times, crumpled words • Some notes and all of my regrets • All of my regrets of both of us • Are at my fingertips • Like do, ré, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do • It’s a song of a faded love • Like the one which you used to hum • Three times, nothing of our lives left • Three times, like this melody • What remains of both of us • Is at the hollow of my voice • Like do, ré, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do • It’s a song of remembrance • Not to forget without saying anything • To Forget without saying anything • 

2. Raise a glass of clean water to the following Indonesian, Singaporean and Malaysian entities named as invested (directly and indirectly) in the yearly recurrence • PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation • PT Bhumireksa Nusa Sejati • Asia Pulp & Paper • Asia Pacific Resources International Limited • Kepong Berhad, and • Sime Darby Berhad.