Forest fires may be due to arson<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
\nsays arson may be behind some of the forest fires now raging in
\nSumatra and Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Some of the fires may have been politically motivated, while
\nothers resulted from conflicts of interests, for example between
\nforestry concession holders and their workers, or with local
\npeople, Djamaludin said yesterday.<\/p>\n
"We have to watch out for those political movements who want
\nto sabotage economic development and government policies," he
\ntold reporters during a break at a hearing with Commission IV of
\nthe House of Representatives (DPR).<\/p>\n
"They may have been behind the forest fires in Kalimantan,"
\nthe minister said. "But we are still waiting for the
\ninvestigations conducted by law enforcers."<\/p>\n
The minister declined to go into details.<\/p>\n
Air transportation in Kalimantan has been virtually paralyzed
\nover the past week because a haze, coming largely from raging
\nbush fires, has descended over many cities. Haze is also
\nblanketing a number of regions in Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Singapore's authorities have issued a second warning to their
\ncitizens of the hazards to their health from the smoke being
\nblown over from Sumatra. They are telling people to stay indoors
\nand avoid physical exertion to prevent inhaling the polluted air.<\/p>\n
Several schools have reduced outdoor physical education
\nclasses because of the haze that has blanketed the island country
\nfor more than a month, state television said yesterday.<\/p>\n
It said the Ministry of Education had advised teachers to
\nrefer students who develop coughs or breathing difficulties for
\nmedical attention.<\/p>\n
The television quoted a Meteorological Service official as
\nsaying the haze has intensified since Friday as winds have
\ncarried smoke and ash from forest fires on the Indonesian island
\nof Sumatra.<\/p>\n
The fog-like haze has blurred the skyline for more than a
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has also reportedly queried Indonesia about the haze
\nwhich is affecting both peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak
\nstates which border on Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) last week warned
\nduring a meeting with Djamaludin that the conflicts between
\nconcessionaires and local people in Kalimantan and Sumatra are
\nbordering on violence.<\/p>\n
Arrest<\/p>\n
In one area in West Kalimantan, some local indigenous people
\nwere arrested by the authorities after they set fire to a base
\ncamp and a bridge belonging to a forestry estate company as a
\ndispute about overlapping land claims came to a head.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin admitted that there is some opposition to the
\ngovernment's program to combine timber estates with the
\ntransmigration program in which the concessionaires employ the
\nsettlers as their workers.<\/p>\n
He lamented that the opponents had decided to take a hostile
\nattitude towards the government and even resort to arson.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin did not state the extent of damage being done by
\nthe forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra.<\/p>\n
In Kalimantan, the spreading of the fires has been
\nexacerbated by sparks setting off coal and peat deposits just
\nbelow the surface of the soil. He cited the current prolonged dry
\nspell as another factor.<\/p>\n
Djamaludin said some of the forest fires may have been caused
\nby arson originating from disputes between timber companies and
\ntheir workers. "We cannot deny that labor disputes in timber
\ncompanies exist," he said.<\/p>\n
In one dispute over pay, outraged workers of PT Musi Persada,
\na subsidiary of PT Barito Pacific Timber in South Sumatra, set
\nfire to 5,000 hectares of forest. The workers have been arrested.
\n(hdj)<\/p>",
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