30 firms named suspects in forest fires

JAKARTA (JP): National Police have declared at least 30 companies -- including four foreign investment firms -- and 24 people as suspects in the current forest fires which have choked a large part of Southeast Asia, a high-ranking police officer said yesterday.

The commander of the National Police Detectives Corps Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said the suspects had allegedly been implicated in the fires, which have caused an estimated Rp 74 billion (US$21 million) in losses to the country, he said.

"The fires have razed about 223,984.18 hectares of forest and bush in almost all provinces, except Jakarta, Aceh, East Nusa Tenggara and East Timor," Nurfaizi said.

Police, in cooperation with other related institutions, were committed to ensuring those responsible for the fires were punished.

"A harsh sanction which will lead to the revocation of licenses may be imposed on companies which are found guilty of burning the forests," he said.

The individual suspects would be charged under several articles of the Criminal Code, government regulations and laws on the management and preservation of natural resources, he said.

"They include Articles 188 and 187 of the Criminal Code on the reckless acts which cause fires and the use of explosives," he said.

The two articles stipulate a maximum penalty of life or 20 years imprisonment.

He said the 24 people allegedly responsible for some of the fires were either people who worked for cultivation companies or independent farmers.

"They either burned the bushes or forests for their own interests or for the sake of money offered by companies in the area."

"Some of the individuals were bound by work contracts with the companies intending to open new sites."

He said two out of the 24 people were now being tried at local district courts, six would be tried soon, the cases of two people were being considered by prosecutors and 14 others were still being investigated by police.

Nurfaizi said most of the accused companies operated in Riau, Jambi and Lampung.

One of the four foreign investment companies allegedly involved in forest burning is located in Lampung while the other three are in Riau, he said. All of the companies are being investigated.

The people involved with the companies are to be charged under Article 55 of the Criminal Code, depending on their role in the forest fires, he said.

"A person may be accused of giving the order or persuading someone else to set the fire in the company's interest."

Deputy chairman of the Environment Control Agency, Soekardi, said an investigation team had been observing the various fire sites since Oct. 25.

"Some of the fires were planned by several companies before hand. That can be proved by documents and evidence we found at the fire sites," Soekardi said.

"Between 60 and 70 percent of the fires were started by the companies," he said. "The rest were by common people or farmers."

Police data shows that most of the local companies were located in Jambi, South Kalimantan and Riau.

The data also indicates that Irian Jaya has suffered the greatest from forest fires, with the loss of 80,766 hectares, followed by East Kalimantan with 27,490 hectares, Central Kalimantan with 27,400 hectares and West Kalimantan with 21,929 hectares.

In South Kalimantan, the fires razed some 16,182 hectares, while in Lampung 7,950 hectares, Jambi 7,579 hectares and Riau 2,984 hectares. (cst)

Water bombers -- Page 2