Choking haze shows nature can still teach us lessons

Choking haze shows nature can still teach us lessons

By S. Djuweng and Edi Petebang

The country is under fire. The government declared Thursday
that the smoldering forest fires and the resulting haze
blanketing Sumatra and Kalimantan was a natural calamity. More
than 700,000 hectares of forest in Kalimantan and 11,500 more in
Sumatra have been scorched. The haze, which is also affecting
neighboring countries, has reduced visibility to a few feet in
some areas and was a likely factor in Friday's crash of a Garuda
airplane in Medan. The Jakarta Post contributors probe reasons
behind this burning issue.

PONTIANAK, West Kalimantan (JP): The smoke from rampaging
forest fires -- which State Minister of the Environment Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja stated were endangering 20 million people -- has
cast the biggest pall over this province.

Flights to and from Pontianak have been canceled for three
weeks. Travel agents have halted their activities. Usually, five
buses ply the route to and from Kuching, the capital of Sarawak,
Malaysia, but these, too, have been temporarily discontinued.

There are plans to evacuate the 2.2 million residents of
Sarawak to peninsular Malaysia following the Malaysian
government's declaration of a state of emergency in Sarawak and
its decision to temporarily close schools. Earlier this week,
Malaysia sent a hundred firefighters to Pontianak to help bring
the fires under control.

The smoke is affecting not only Sarawak, Sabah and Brunei, but
also Singapore and the southern Philippines and part of Thailand.
Wilfred Tangau, a resident of Sabah, said by telephone Tuesday
that residents of Kota Kinabalu donned masks when venturing out
of their homes.

"The situation is a bit chaotic. It's dangerous to be outside
the home. I have even stopped smoking," he said.

Unlike Sarawak, the West Kalimantan provincial government only
stated the province was on a state of red alert, a level below
state of emergency. School holidays started on Monday morning.
People know the airport and travel agencies are closed, but it
seems they are not well informed about the situation.

In Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, it was reported that 20
students had collapsed. Health authorities in Pontianak disclosed
that the number of people visiting private clinic and hospital
reached 4,000 per day. Major hospitals in Pontianak are full. In
some wards, patient numbers are exceed the capacity level. Santo
Antonius Hospital is preparing mattresses for children.

Pontianak Mayor R.A. Siregar said the air pollution level is
1,890.3 micrograms per cubic meter, which is far above the
tolerable level. He urged people to wear masks; asked parents to
prevent their children from playing in the open air or sending
their offspring to school; instructed all drivers to turn on
their headlights; and told them to monitor closely announcements
from the authorities.

Masks are sold on the streets by vendors also wearing masks. A
simple mask usually sells for Rp 200, but the price has increased
to Rp 500. Those of better quality can cost up Rp 2,500 each.

Streets are dead at night. There are few visitors to the
discotheques, pubs, karaoke bars and restaurants still open.

Some tourists trapped in Pontianak said they were annoyed. "I
would not have come to Kalimantan had I known the situation was
this bad," said Australian Cameron Bell.

He had traveled in the interior areas of the island for
several months but was waylaid by the haze when he returned to
Pontianak.

Losses may be staggering and unprecedented in their scope.
From the standpoint of nature, it could take at least 35 years
for the trees to regenerate.

Costs to people are also huge. If each of the 20 million
people spent an average of Rp 10,000 on health care, then at
least Rp 200 billion would be lost in medical costs.

Airlines, travel agencies and bus companies have seen their
business plummet. The provincial government, restaurants and
entertainment firms must deal with huge decreases in tourism
revenue.

This is bitterly ironic as the local government had set a
target to achieve 10.9 percent economic growth.

Last week, a group of students demonstrated against the head
of the provincial office of plantations, Karsan Sukardi, for his
statement in the local Akcaya newspaper that traditional farmers
were to blame. Demonstrators called themselves the Forum for
Supporting President Soeharto's Statement on Smoke, referring to
the President's announcement that the natural disaster was due to
land clearing for industrial plantations, estates and
transmigration sites.

Students demanded Karsan apologize to traditional farmers or
be brought before the customary court.

Miden Maniamas, a traditional Kanyatan Dayak chief, said he
had never seen a disaster like the haze in his 58 years.

"This is unusual. I reject any suggestion that the smoke is
caused by Dayak farmers. We know how to control fires when we
burn our land," he told Kalimantan Review.

Some might snicker at the indigenous Dayak's belief in
nature's great spirit. The Dayak believe every living thing has a
spirit: land, rivers, stones, trees and forests and human beings.
Above them all is the "Spirit of Spirits".

Everything thus has the same right to exist. If human beings
are to use other objects for their own ends, Dayak believe they
have to apply for permission from the Spirit of Spirits, and this
must be done in the form of ritual ceremonies.

Modern people do not hear the falling of million of trees
logged in Kalimantan's rain forest for different projects. They
only enjoy the riches resulting from it to furnish their
luxurious lifestyle.

They assume living and nonliving creatures are secondary to
the concerns of humans. But the massive exploitation of forest
resources has inexorably disturbed the balance of nature.

British scientist James Lovelock found the earth has the power
to self regulate. The higher the biodiversity is, the more the
earth regulates itself. He named his theory -- Gaea -- after the
Greek earth goddess.

Massive exploitation of natural resources for the sake of high
economic growth has weakened the power of the earth to regulate
itself. Waste from logging companies, blocked rivers because of
logging roads and erosion of the water catchment areas have all
disturbed the mechanism of nature.

Worst is the clearance of primary forest to develop the timber
industrial plantations and cash-crop plantation projects. All
those industrial plantations plant fast-growing species, and
monoculture plantation. They are easily flammable materials. A
fire in one part will spread easily.

The Dayak believe everything in the world can be used to
fulfill the basic needs of human beings. But that does not give
people the right to do anything they wish. This basic principle
has been made concrete in what is known as Customary Laws. These
govern all aspects of people's lives.

The greedy are not aware of their negative attitude towards
the environment. At the same time, the environment has no mouth
to protest. When NGO activists warn that massive exploitation
endangers our planet, they are accused of opposing development
and defying the authorities.

The haze disaster shows that uncontrolled exploitation of
natural resources also endangers human beings. Nature may be
silent, but it can still teach us lessons.

S. Djuweng is director of the Institute of Dayakology Research
and Development (IDRD) and Edi Petebang is managing editor of
Kalimantan Review, a monthly journal published by IDRD.