14 firms suspected violating govt ban on land clearing<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government accused yesterday 14 plantation
\ncompanies of violating a recent ban and continuing with land
\nclearing activities that have caused forest fires.<\/p>\n
A report from the Directorate General of Plantations at the
\nMinistry of Agriculture said the 14 were among 76 companies that
\nhad complied with the government's order to file an account of
\ntheir land clearing activities.<\/p>\n
Dated Sept. 25, the ministry's report, however, did not give
\nthe names of the erring companies.<\/p>\n
The government had earlier named 173 companies, mostly
\nplantation and some timber estates, suspected of burning forests
\nin Sumatra and Kalimantan for opening up land. Satellite imaging
\nof the companies' concession areas showed raging fires.<\/p>\n
The government had given the companies until Oct. 1 to defend
\nthemselves by filing reports on their activities. The government
\nhad promised it would first conduct checks in the field before
\ntaking punitive actions against erring companies.<\/p>\n
Separately, Minister of Agriculture Sjarifudin Baharsjah said
\nyesterday the punitive measures would be \"proportional\".<\/p>\n
\"If they burned (the forests) and admitted it, and if that
\n(activity) took place before the current problem (of widespread
\nhaze), it would not be a problem,\" he said after meeting with
\nPresident Soeharto at Merdeka Palace.<\/p>\n
\"But this happened after the government banned the burning,
\nthey are still doing it, so we must take action,\" he said,
\nwithout elaborating.<\/p>\n
The ministry data shows that along with the 14 companies
\naccused of deliberately burning forests, the government had found
\nfires \"with no clear causes\" at the concession areas of 28
\ncompanies. There had also been fires at the concession areas of
\n23 other companies.<\/p>\n
Sjarifudin said fire had engulfed 79,169 hectares of land in
\nareas operated by the 173 concessionaires. He said most of the
\ncharred forests belonged to rubber and oil palm plantations.<\/p>\n
The owners of the 173 companies have been asked to help
\nextinguish fires in their respective areas, he added.<\/p>\n
The brush and forest fires that have ravaged 300,000 hectares
\nof land and forest in Sumatra and Kalimantan over the last three
\nmonths have caused havoc in several towns on the islands and
\nneighboring Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Brunei and
\nparts of Thailand.<\/p>\n
Other sources have reported that the fires have blackened up
\nto 800,000 hectares of land.<\/p>\n
Millions of people are currently under a health threat because
\nof the smoke and haze. More than 30,000 people in Sumatra and
\nKalimantan and tens of thousands of others in Malaysia and
\nSingapore have been afflicted with severe respiratory problems.<\/p>\n
The prolonged dry season caused by a global climate phenomena
\nknown as El Nio has also been partly blamed for the widespread
\nforest fires.<\/p>\n
International offers of assistance have been much reported by
\nthe press recently, and help has been offered by the Malaysian
\ngovernment, which has deployed more than 1,000 firefighters to
\nSumatra and Kalimantan, to help their Indonesian counterparts
\ncope with the fires.<\/p>\n
Separately, the Indonesia Forum for Environment (Walhi) warned
\nyesterday of the imminent danger of a food shortage facing some
\n20 million people in Sumatra and Kalimantan in the aftermath of
\nthe fires.<\/p>\n
The non-governmental organization's executive director, Emmy
\nHafild, said that the government must be aware of this \"very
\nlikely dire situation\" and anticipate it well.<\/p>\n
\"The priority now of course is to put the forest fires out,
\nbut people's destroyed food resources, the outbreak of pests and
\nall things that follow should be taken into account afterward,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
To support the concerted efforts to put out the fires, as
\nPresident Soeharto had called for on Thursday, Emmy said the
\ngovernment must put forward \"any necessary means\" to equip
\ncommunity members and related authorities for the purpose.<\/p>\n
\"Ask for help either from Southern California or Australia,
\nwhich have had lots of experiences fighting forest fires with
\ntheir water-bomber aircraft.\"<\/p>\n
\"For the sake of millions of people now being choked by the
\nhaze, we have to do that (ask for help). We are not in any
\nposition at all to turn down any offer of assistance,\" Emmy said.<\/p>\n
Emmy said her organization had opened a special bank account
\nthrough which donors could channel their help for those in
\nplight. The account number is 391-0570-6, the Jakarta Design
\nCenter Slipi chapter of Bank Niaga under the name of Walhi.<\/p>\n
Emmy said her organization had sent 40,000 respiratory and
\nsurgical masks to West Kalimantan and 10,000 more to Jambi on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
\"In Jakarta, we still have another eight tons of masks
\n(containing about one million masks) donated by Malaysia, that
\nhave yet to be sent due to the absence of ships to Kalimantan,\"
\nshe said. \"Therefore I call on our Navy to provide a ship to help
\ncarry the cargo.\" (prb\/aan)<\/p>\n
Related stories on Page 2 and Page 12<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/14-firms-suspected-violating-govt-ban-on-land-clearing-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }