Govt threatens to name slash-and-burn firms
Govt threatens to name slash-and-burn firms
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo
echoed yesterday a threat to reveal the names of plantation
companies who persisted in employing harmful slash-and-burn
methods.
Siswono's remark repeated an earlier warning made by State
Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja who alleged that
the burning was deliberate.
Siswono said his ministry, in charge of the resettlement of
forest squatters, has since 1994 implemented the revelation
tactic to discourage slash-and-burn methods by contractors
assigned to clear land for transmigration purposes.
He told The Jakarta Post that his ministry introduced the so-
called "non-burning method" of clearing land in 1994.
Forest fires and bush fires in the provinces of Central
Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Jambi and Riau have created a thick
haze which has lowered air quality and disrupted air travel, not
only in parts of Indonesia, but also in Malaysia and Singapore.
Sarwono had earlier said that after at least 100,000 hectares
of forest had been destroyed and 20 million people contending
with respiratory problems from the smoke, the government was
close to declaring the fires as "national disasters."
He lowered his earlier estimate of 300,000 hectares being
consumed by forest fires.
While big plantation and logging companies are called to abate
the situation, Siswono maintained yesterday that they should not
take all the blame.
"Traditional farmers who think this month is the end of the
dry season have begun farming by burning bushes and shrubs, which
also contributes a lot to the fires," Siswono said after a
hearing at the House of Representatives yesterday.
Siswono said there was a need to heighten people's awareness
of the problems the fires cause so they would not burn forests to
clear land.
He further said that a lack of coordination between government
levels and related parties impaired the situation further.
He said the problem had been relatively controlled over the
past two years due to better coordination.
"Almost all related parties were on alert then and took
precautionary measures," he said.
"This year we seem to have lost it. So from now on, all
government levels from the smallest village up to the provincial
governors should act -- along with those big companies,
contractors, and farmers," Siswono added.
In a related development, Minister of Forestry Djamaludin
Suryohadikusumo claimed yesterday that areas burned by plantation
companies was larger than that done by timber estate companies.
"These plantation company owners aren't aware of the
suffocating conditions their activities cause because they live
in Jakarta," he said. (aan)