ASEAN seeks action against culprits behind RI fires

ASEAN seeks action against culprits behind RI fires

M. Jegathesan, Agence France-Presse/Kuala Lumpur

ASEAN officials on Wednesday pressed for tough action against
those responsible for forest fires in Indonesia which have sent a
choking haze over Malaysia and Thailand in recent weeks.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) senior
officials meeting in Malaysia's northern Penang island warned
that dry weather and monsoon winds meant the smog could worsen if
the fires were not controlled.

"The senior officials reiterated the need for stringent
enforcement actions against errant parties who set fires
indiscriminately," they said in a statement from the three-day
talks, which were scheduled before the crisis erupted.
The officials also called for "full disclosure and sharing of
information on errant parties."

Indonesian officials at the meeting which began on Tuesday
said the forest fires had been brought under control, but said
they would welcome ASEAN's assistance in tackling future blazes.

Malaysia on Monday deployed 125 firefighters to battle
hundreds of fires on Sumatra island which last week smothered
Kuala Lumpur and surrounding districts as well as the west coast
where pollution reached extremely hazardous levels.

Shifting winds brought relief to those areas over the weekend,
but pushed the problem north to regions along the Malaysia-
Thailand border and onto the Thai island of Phuket.

Malaysia and Indonesia have been trading accusations of blame
over the forest fires.

Indonesia's forestry ministry said on Monday that eight out of
10 plantation firms accused of burning to clear land for
cultivation are Malaysian-owned.

But Malaysian Plantations Minister Peter Chin said on Tuesday
after talks with 18 firms operating there that they all denied
using slash-and-burn techniques.

"They have given me a reasonable explanation and I am quite
happy with that," Chin said, adding that he had not received any
solid proof from Indonesian authorities on the involvement of
Malaysian companies.

The officials called for concerted measures by ASEAN countries
to fight the forest fires because drier weather conditions with
below average rainfall could be expected in parts of Sumatra and
Borneo island until October.

"The prevailing winds will continue to transport any smoke
haze to the region should fires occur in the area," they said.

Greenpeace on Wednesday called on the Indonesian government to
establish a moratorium on new logging and land-clearing
operations on Sumatra as well as fire-prone Kalimantan islands.

It said that environmental groups had reported more than 1,700
fires in Sumatra's Riau province alone, and that most of them
were located in logging concessions and timber plantations.

Greenpeace said that even as it claimed to be serious about
tackling the problem, Indonesia was encouraging new pulp and
paper investments which would be associated with forest
destruction and fires.

"ASEAN cannot turn a blind eye on the forest fires and the
destruction that is happening in Indonesia's remaining ancient
forests. There must be concrete action," said its regional forest
campaigner, Hapsoro.

Malaysia and Singapore have both called for a more coordinated
response from ASEAN on the annual haze situation, which in 1997-
98 cost the region some US$9.0 billion by disrupting air travel
and other business activities.

The officials said that the 10-nation group's environment
ministers had agreed to establish a panel of experts on fire and
haze which could rapidly assess outbreaks and make
recommendations on how to deal with them.