Forest fires may be due to arson

Forest fires may be due to arson

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Forestry Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo
says arson may be behind some of the forest fires now raging in
Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Some of the fires may have been politically motivated, while
others resulted from conflicts of interests, for example between
forestry concession holders and their workers, or with local
people, Djamaludin said yesterday.

"We have to watch out for those political movements who want
to sabotage economic development and government policies," he
told reporters during a break at a hearing with Commission IV of
the House of Representatives (DPR).

"They may have been behind the forest fires in Kalimantan,"
the minister said. "But we are still waiting for the
investigations conducted by law enforcers."

The minister declined to go into details.

Air transportation in Kalimantan has been virtually paralyzed
over the past week because a haze, coming largely from raging
bush fires, has descended over many cities. Haze is also
blanketing a number of regions in Sumatra.

Singapore's authorities have issued a second warning to their
citizens of the hazards to their health from the smoke being
blown over from Sumatra. They are telling people to stay indoors
and avoid physical exertion to prevent inhaling the polluted air.

Several schools have reduced outdoor physical education
classes because of the haze that has blanketed the island country
for more than a month, state television said yesterday.

It said the Ministry of Education had advised teachers to
refer students who develop coughs or breathing difficulties for
medical attention.

The television quoted a Meteorological Service official as
saying the haze has intensified since Friday as winds have
carried smoke and ash from forest fires on the Indonesian island
of Sumatra.

The fog-like haze has blurred the skyline for more than a
month.

Malaysia has also reportedly queried Indonesia about the haze
which is affecting both peninsular Malaysia and Sabah and Sarawak
states which border on Kalimantan.

The Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) last week warned
during a meeting with Djamaludin that the conflicts between
concessionaires and local people in Kalimantan and Sumatra are
bordering on violence.

Arrest

In one area in West Kalimantan, some local indigenous people
were arrested by the authorities after they set fire to a base
camp and a bridge belonging to a forestry estate company as a
dispute about overlapping land claims came to a head.

Djamaludin admitted that there is some opposition to the
government's program to combine timber estates with the
transmigration program in which the concessionaires employ the
settlers as their workers.

He lamented that the opponents had decided to take a hostile
attitude towards the government and even resort to arson.

Djamaludin did not state the extent of damage being done by
the forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra.

In Kalimantan, the spreading of the fires has been
exacerbated by sparks setting off coal and peat deposits just
below the surface of the soil. He cited the current prolonged dry
spell as another factor.

Djamaludin said some of the forest fires may have been caused
by arson originating from disputes between timber companies and
their workers. "We cannot deny that labor disputes in timber
companies exist," he said.

In one dispute over pay, outraged workers of PT Musi Persada,
a subsidiary of PT Barito Pacific Timber in South Sumatra, set
fire to 5,000 hectares of forest. The workers have been arrested.
(hdj)