Govt moves against firms responsible for forest fires

Govt moves against firms responsible for forest fires

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Medan

The authorities say they are trying to identify companies
responsible for the current forest fires in the Sumatra region
which have caused choking haze in neighboring Malaysia.

A joint team comprising staff from the Ministry of Forestry
and police officers flew on a chartered airplane on Thursday
night to a number of areas in North Sumatra to investigate the
forest fires there, particularly in the protected Padang Lawas
forest, South Tapanuli.

Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban said on Friday in the
North Sumatra capital city of Medan that the team, led by Luhut
Sihombing from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency, has
found several hot spots in the province and on the border with
Riau province.

Kaban said there were indications that the forest fires in
North Sumatra were deliberately lit by companies for land
clearing purposes. Around the Padang Lawas forest, for instance,
there are areas that have been planted with oil palms.

Acrid haze continued to blanket parts of Malaysia on Friday,
blown by winds from forest fires in North Sumatra and Riau. Many
of the fires were believed to have been set by farmers,
plantation owners and miners trying to clear land. Hot, dry
weather was also a major factor contributing to the blazes.

The areas hardest hit by fires are Padang Lawas forest, around
Lake Toba in Simalungun regency, and Labuhan Batu, Mandailing
Natal and Karo regencies. In Riau, meanwhile, hot spots have
mostly been detected in the Rokan Hulu region.

Data from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in
Polonia, Medan, showed a total of 547 hot spots were found across
North Sumatra and Riau.

Concerned with the haze problems, President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono has discussed the issue with Malaysian Prime Minister
Abdullah Badawi.

"The President is very concerned as the haze has disrupted
activities on the Malaysian peninsula as well as flights in Kuala
Lumpur," said presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal.

"Firm action will be taken against those responsible," he
said

But taking action against big companies operating in forest
areas may be easier said than done.

Head of North Sumatra Forestry Office Prie Supriadi said that
the Office has yet to be able to identify the responsible parties
for the forest fires, particularly at Padang Lawas, as a large
number of companies operate there.

"It's difficult for us to catch who did it because there is no
evidence," Prie told The Jakarta Post.

Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty
Natalegawa said that the government hoped member states of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) would support
efforts to deal with the forest fire crisis.

"Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia are coordinating to
overcome the haze problems. I'm sure other members of ASEAN are
concerned with these problems and eager to help," Marty told
reporters on Friday.

Regional cooperation in this case is very useful, he added, in
increasing Indonesia's national capacity in preventing the forest
fires in the long term.

ASEAN actually has a coordination mechanism through the ASEAN
Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution that has been in place
since Nov. 25, 2003.

The agreement, Marty said, has been ratified by six ASEAN
member countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar
and Vietnam. Indonesia, on the other hand, has signed the
agreement but has yet to ratify it.

"The ratification process has been going on for quite a long
time. It might be submitted to the House of Representatives in
the near future," he said.