The news that one human died of bird flu in Indonesia every 2.5 days in May is a warning that should be very seriously heeded in Malaysia. At this rate, health experts fear that our southern neighbour will soon overtake Vietnam as the country worst-hit by the H5N1 virus globally. This is a matter of immediate concern to us considering that there is substantial traffic - both legal and illegal 0 between Malaysia and Indonesia, as well as Thailand, which has also been battling outbreaks of the disease.

But while Thailand and Vietnam have been able to make the necessary interventions by enforcing extensive culling of infected flocks of fowl, Indonesia has a major administrative problem due to a chaotic mix of decentralisation, political instability and corruption that make an emergency health programme a nightmare to implement.

The gravity of the situation was aptly captured in the exasperation of World Health Organisation spokesman Dick Thompson who said, "We're trying to fix this leak in the roof, and there's a storm". With 36 human deaths in Indonesia and 42 in Vietnam, the two countries make up the bulk of the world's death toll since the avian influenza began spreading in 2003. Reports suggest that many local governments in Indonesia have refused to implement mass culling of poultry in infected areas and vaccination of flocks is problematic.

The issue for Malaysia now is how to ensure that Indonesia's problem does not swamp our emergency response systems given the inability of our border patrols to contain illegal immigration and gaps in the enforcement machinery, particularly at the level of the local authorities.

There are also lessons to be learnt from the last round of disease outbreak in mid-2004. In particular, it is important to avoid the misstep taken when information of the outbreak first surfaced, and the press was discouraged from reporting it. This faux pas was subsequently criticised by the Prime Minister's Office, and the media was thereafter kept regularly updated about the latest developments.

It bears repeating that swift and reliable information dissemination is crucial especially in emergency circumstances where the fears of the public need to be laid to rest to prevent panic reactions.

The other lesson should be drawn from Indonesia 's current difficulties that have left world health experts aghast. Weaknesses in implementation, accountability and transparency issues, political interference and corruption are the dross that is weighing down our public administration apparatus. Let them not clog the delivery system when the scourge that is now in north Sumatra washes ashore.