Govt ignored warning, fires to continue
Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The central and local governments are to blame for the continuing forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra as they ignored early warnings, a team of experts said on Friday.
The team, set up under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and Technology, also called on the government to declare the fires and national disaster and to start evacuating people living near the burn offs to prevent further deaths.
It also warned the government against playing down the team's prediction of the forest fires continuing for the remainder of the year.
Team member Bambang Hero Saharjo told a media conference the experts warned the government twice this year but it had done nothing.
"First, we informed the government in January that forest fires would return, but at that time they were busy with serious floods in Jakarta," said Bambang, a senior lecturer at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.
"Then, in April we renewed our warning. They were supposed to immediately take preventive measures, but it turned out that no institution followed up on our notification."
The team was set up to mitigate the effects of climate disasters under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and Technology.
Bambang said the government did not move to prevent the fires on the grounds it had not found signals that a drought would be caused by a weak El Nino.
On the contrary, the team had expected a weak El Nino to occur this year, he said.
El Nino is an abnormal water warming phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean. It changes patterns of wind and rain, which sparks severe droughts in Indonesia and neighboring countries but causes heavy rain in western parts of South America.
The El Nino in 1997-1998 partly triggered vast forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra, causing a thick haze to spread throughout Southeast Asia.
He said this year's fire should be declared a disaster due to its impact. "There have been deaths and 7,000 others are suffering from upper respiratory tract infections," he said.
"People in West and Central Kalimantan, in particular, have been hit hardest by the forest and ground fires. The government needs to evacuate people surrounding the fire and provide them with food assistance," he said.
Bambang suggested that the Ministry of Forestry assume the position of rescuing the people.
"It is obvious that the government, in this case the Ministry of Forestry, must be responsible for handling the fires. It's already beyond the capability of the regencies and provinces," he said.
He regretted the fact that efforts to tackle the blazes were minimal and even the forestry agencies in Kalimantan and Sumatra were reluctant to investigate the sources of the fires.
Meanwhile, Erna Sri Adiningsih, who chairs the team, said the government should be alert for the possibility the fires would burn for the remainder of the year.
"People in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Lampung, and Riau must be cautious of forest fires until the end of this year.
"The possibility is 60 percent that those areas will be still dry by the end of the year," she said.
Instead of taking immediate action to deal with the fires, the government has blamed local people and migrants for the disaster.
Forest concession companies are relatively free of accusations of careless forest management although hot spots have also been found in their areas.
Kalimantan is prone to forest fires due to its abundant peat lands.