A month after being exposed to the haze crisis, we still haven't seen any breakthroughs except for a few piecemeal measures in the capital that have failed to tackle the problem properly. This is because the powers that be underestimated the crisis.
Earlier this week, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered his men to "study and find the cause of crisis". On Thursday, he ordered the construction of rail networks to be halted for a week. Before that, a cloud seeding effort was made.
We have only seen Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang busily engaged in PR stunts and photo ops through the daily "water firing" -- the only method he is convinced can do away with PM2.5 dust.
Of course, we can't expect the government to come up with long-term solutions within weeks for the smog that is shrouding the city. But this is not the first time we have faced this crisis. We went through it last winter (and I have been unknowingly exposed to PM2.5 for years), but Gen Prayut and Pol Gen Aswin act as if the issue is a new one. If they don't realise the impact of the haze, I volunteer to cite a study that shows that people living in an orange zone for one year will have tainted lungs equivalent to smoking half a pack of cigarettes every day for 30 years, while the effect doubles in a red zone.
If they don't care that smog harms people's health, maybe they would be more interested to learn that it will hurt the economy. According to a Kasikorn Research Centre analysis, the PM2.5 crisis could cost Thailand 6.6 billion baht in health care and (loss of) tourism. If they find this term too academic, it means haze will drive tourists away. It's believed that at least 2.4 million people in Bangkok suffer from respiratory diseases. This may translate into lost job opportunities costing up to 3.1 billion baht while the loss of opportunities in tourism could amount to 3.5 billion baht.
Yet, the prime minister hasn't ordered filthy factories to stop production or banned diesel-run vehicles on city roads on weekdays. Neither has he asked for cooperation from business operators to allow employees to work from home. I wonder, despite the claim of "Thailand 4.0 status", how many state officials are that tech savvy.
While the Bangkok governor encourages commuters to give up their cars, he hasn't got the guts to ask for any cooperation from city train operators to reduce fares, which are widely seen as too expensive. The governor doesn't seem to understand that children are more vulnerable. That's why he hasn't ordered kindergartens, primary schools, or even city schools to close.
Most, if not all the measures, are shoddy. They remind me how during the water shortage crisis in 2014, the prime minister quickly "asked" farmers to skip rice growing, saying rice paddy fields consumed too much water, while tourism-related establishments had free-flowing tap water. If the prime minister and the Bangkok governor consulted experts, they would realise construction sites are not the culprit as they mostly emit PM10 particles.
According to the Pollution Control Department, diesel engine fumes contribute around 60% of the air pollution in the capital. However, many experts wonder if the percentage in a city like Bangkok is actually much higher. If Gen Prayut knew that diesel engines were the real culprit, would he order a complete ban on diesel-run vehicles and engines in the country?
A scientific study has proven that PM2.5 can harm our brains. I wonder if those in power have been inhaling so much PM2.5 that they think and react slowly to problems.
When Paris was hit by smog in the winter of 2016, the city slapped a ban on private cars, based on licence plate numbers, by the third day of the crisis. It also issued six categories of stickers showing the year of a vehicle's registration.
But in Bangkok, we can't completely ban diesel vehicles, or even introduce alternate days for odd- and even-plates to enter the city. Nobody knows why we can't ban diesel vehicles. There are certainly too many diesel-run pickup trucks, European cars and 20-year-old diesel-run buses.
The government and City Hall just don't seem to have learned any lessons from other countries.
I know many were unhappy when Gen Prayut exercised his Section 44 power to solve a spate of problems. But I don't think they would be opposed if he used the special power this time to remove diesel-run vehicles from the roads and encourage electric ones, order the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority to switch to electric buses, and ditch coal-fired power plants to opt for renewable energy instead.
He should also see to it that City Hall grows more trees. Those measures must be implemented now. We shouldn't have to wait while our health is in jeopardy.
Sirinya Wattanasukchai is a columnist, Bangkok Post.
