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Shanmugam responds to criticism from netizens

SINGAPORE — There are limits to what the Government can do to combat the haze, which is “quite outside (our) control”, said Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam yesterday morning as the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit a new high.

SINGAPORE — There are limits to what the Government can do to combat the haze, which is “quite outside (our) control”, said Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam yesterday morning as the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit a new high.

In a Facebook post addressing netizens’ gripes that the Government was not doing enough to tackle the problem, Mr Shanmugam noted that “(we) are often price takers, not price makers — whether it is economics, geopolitics or the environment. But despite that we have done well, much better than bigger countries with more resources, because we have managed to deal with most situations by anticipating them”.

He singled out comments by Facebook user William Sin, who employed expletives as he railed against the Government for the lack of a solution, in response to a post by Mr Shanmugam on Tuesday.

“If Mr Sin or anyone else thinks we can do more about the haze … perhaps they can tell us — but I suppose, for some, the temptation to direct expletives and use this occasion to attack the Government and the PAP (People’s Action Party) is too great,” said Mr Shanmugam.

His post yesterday, which drew more than 1,200 likes and close to 500 comments, saw netizens firmly divided into two camps: Detractors and supporters. Mr Sin weighed in on the post, saying that Mr Shanmugam could have done better being “a million dollar minister”, and called the Government inefficient.

Mr Shanmugam did not directly respond to Mr Sin’s comments. In a separate comment, he pointed out that the Association of South-east Asian Nations signed a treaty on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2002, but “Indonesia has not yet ratified it”. He said this was “surprising, given that the haze affects Indonesian public as well”.

Mr Shanmugam also dispelled rumours that “Temasek companies were involved” in the forest fires, saying “that has been checked and is completely untrue”.

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