10 suspects arrested for burning forests

JAKARTA (JP): Police have arrested at least 10 suspects recently for allegedly burning protected forests on Mt. Keles, Mt. Salodik and Mt. Siuna in Banggai regency, Central Sulawesi, Antara reported yesterday.

Police have also detained 15 people caught while cutting trees in the preserved forest of Bangkiriang.

Banggai regent Sudarto vowed to take stern measures against any timber companies found guilty of illegally exploiting the forests.

"I am obliged to protect rare flora and fauna including the nearly extinct Maleo birds in the 3,900-hectare forest," Sudarto said yesterday.

Indonesian forests have been suffering in the past five months from drought-related fires as well as illegal logging. Both domestic and international assistance to fight the spreading forest fires is still pouring in.

The latest offer came from the Finnish government. It has sent a peat fire equipment package worth US$70,000 to Indonesia to help extinguish the ongoing peat fires in West Kalimantan.

The Finnish Embassy said here in a statement Thursday, the package includes pumps, hoses and specialized gear to penetrate the peat layers to reach underground hot spots.

It also sent a peat fire expert, Roy Grongyist, to train local inhabitants to extinguish the fires. Grongyist has had experience working in Kalimantan forests during the 1980s and early 1990s.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also presented here yesterday $25,000 in disaster relief assistance to victims of forest fires. The contribution will be used to buy medical and health supplies, especially for some 8,000 children and the elderly in Riau, West Sumatra and South Sumatra that has been choked by thick haze caused by the fires.

Another Antara dispatch said at least 20 hectares of protected forest in Karimunjaya Island, Central Java, have been razed by fires early this month.

"Until now we have not been able to get the fires under control because the wind is too strong," local officials said Wednesday.

Fires were still razing the forest near Mt. Muria in Kudus, Central Java.

Police arrested a suspect last week, identified only as Rus, for allegedly burning at least 60.5 hectares of forest in Kudus.

Antara, however, did not elaborate on his reason for burning the forest. (prb)