Anticipating the dry season

Anticipating the dry season

The dry season has come, bringing drought to many parts of Indonesia. The temperature has also increased in some parts of the country. The weather has also become worse due to the El Nino phenomenon.

Haze has not only covered West Kalimantan, but also North Sumatra over the past few days. It is feared that neighboring countries will lodge strong protests over the haze from Indonesia.

It is always villagers who are blamed for the haze when forest fires start, even though they clear land in small areas only, compared to the big businessmen who always set fire to their thousands of hectares of timber estates.

The government should prepare for forest fires by having reliable equipment on standby -- helicopters as well as trained firefighters -- as extinguishing fires needs professionalism.

-- Republika, Jakarta