OCM praying for haze-free SEA Games

KUALA LUMPUR: The Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) hope the Kuala Lumpur 2017 SEA Games to be held from Aug 19- 30, would not be affected by the haze that has engulfed parts of Sumatera, especially Aceh, currently.

OCM president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Ja’afar said every time Malaysia organised a major international event, the weather has been favourable and thus far had not interrupted preparations or the competition.

“We cannot control the weather but we assure you we always have had good weather for all our games in the past. You cannot control the weather, but we believe this year it will be good.

“A year before we hosted the 1998 Commonwealth Games, we faced a very bad haze problem and the delegates attending the Commonwealth Games Federation then were worried but during the Games, everything was fine,” he told reporters after Bata Malaysia presented shoes to the Malaysian SEA Games contingent at Wisma OCM, here yesterday.

On Tuesday, Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency ( BNPB) has warned of an escalating threat of forest fires with the dry season expected to peak in coming months, while hot spots detected in the province of Aceh have already been causing choking smoke. International news agency, Agence France- Presse (AFP) reported that hospitals in Aceh were filled with hundreds of people, including children, who had suffered breathing problems due to the smoke.

“The peak of the dry season is predicted to be in August and September, so the threat of forest and field fires, and drought will escalate,” Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for BNPB had said in a statement according to the agency. — Bernama