Barings Futures debacle: A lesson learnt for Singapore

THE year 2015 has been an eventful one for Singapore. The death of Lee Kuan Yew overshadowed the 50th anniversary, because he was the principal architect of the modern nation. The anniversary itself was a chance to celebrate what he, and the other founding fathers of the nation, had achieved in that short time. Such a pity that he could not be around long enough to take part, but the public outpouring of grief put his and their achievements in real perspective. Cynical Western nations were taken aback by the respect shown to Mr Lee but, true to their cynicism, then put the People's Action Party resurgence in the recent general election down to his lingering influence.

It is probably just jealousy. The little swampy island cast adrift in 1965 and written off as a place to do anything of interest has confounded the world. The list of world achievements is huge and Singapore sits as an influential power in itself, in the region, in Asia and in the world. There are still many hurdles to overcome, of course, the most pressing being the quality of life for all residents.

Talking of the quality of life, clean air is something on everyone's mind. The haze is physically and economically harmful and mentally depressing. It has gone on for far too long, not just the number of months this year but the number of years in total. We thought we had seen the worst in 1997 and that it would be dealt with soon after. The last few years' burning seasons have seen unenviable record after record shattered and this year looks like being the longest ever. It should not and cannot be tolerated anymore. Everyone now knows exactly who is responsible and how and why they get away with it. Asean cannot deal with it, because of its membership. It has to be taken to a wider international audience - nations keep banging on about pollution and global warming, yet seemingly ignore the single biggest source of that pollution: forest fires.