By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Aug 21: Life has to go on despite the haze blanketing Serian, says Serian District Council chairman Dato Peter Minos.
In a statement issued today, he noted that Serian residents turned up for an earth-breaking ceremony near the town today even as the Air Pollutant Index (API) exceeded 200.
He said that through this, the community had shown resilience in carrying on with essential activities despite the worsening air quality.
“What can we do? Life has to go on,” Minos said, noting that the API in Serian hit 241 at 8am today.
He said the haze had left Serian residents suffering, while the recurring transboundary haze raised questions about what could be done at the local level.
“Who is to blame for the haze? We can only appeal to our government to talk with the Indonesian authorities to stop the burning,” he said.
However, Minos said the health risks meant outdoor activities could not simply continue as usual, as the council had to postpone the annual Bung Sadong Climbathon, scheduled for Sunday (Aug 23).
He said the decision was necessary as the popular event is held outdoors and attracts hundreds of young people from across the region each year.
“Maybe some people are not too happy and are pretty disappointed with the postponed Bung Sadong Climbathon, but we value people’s health on top of everything else,” he said.
Minos said the event would return once conditions improved, promising that the postponed climbathon would be ‘bigger and merrier’.
At the same time, he urged Serian residents to remain calm while the haze situation persists.
“To all the people of Serian, please keep calm. The haze will come to pass, life will be back to normal, and joy will return,” he said. — DayakDaily
