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)