Haze clears on Sumatra, critical on Kalimantan
Haze clears on Sumatra, critical on Kalimantan
JAKARTA (JP): Heavy rain over the weekend on Sumatra island
dampened forest fires and reduced the dangerous level of haze
there.
But fires on Kalimantan island have yet to abate, bringing
haze to alarming levels on Monday.
Officials in Riau province, one of the worst hit by the haze
in past weeks, said continuing downpours since the weekend were
believed to have helped douse over two-thirds of the 1,064 hot
spots in the area.
"The rain is a blessing, the visibility is now at five
kilometers in the afternoon and it is much better than last
Tuesday, when we had to cancel one flight," the spokesman for the
local administration, Ruskin Har, told The Jakarta Post by
telephone from the provincial capital of Pekanbaru.
He said the average pollution index, which had been at 125,
had dropped to 60 on Monday evening.
An air-quality reading of between 51 and 100 is moderate,
while over 100 is regarded as unhealthy.
Ruskin added that at least 30 people had been treated at
Pekanbaru General Hospital for respiratory disorders.
According to Ruskin, the local administration was watching out
for concessionaires which burned the forest to clear land.
He said a joint team comprising the police, forestry
officials, the Attorney General's Office and the local
administration had been loaned a helicopter by the Ministry of
Communications to patrol the area.
"So far we've caught a big plantation firm which was clearing
1,500 hectares of land by burning the forest," said Ruskin,
adding that he was certain other violators would be caught.
Meanwhile, Antara news agency reported on Monday the
authorities in West Kalimantan were concerned about the effect
the haze would have on the health of local residents.
According to several reports, air traffic to Pontianak has
been seriously disrupted by the haze. The reports said flights
could land only after mid-morning, when a sea breeze blew off the
haze.
Punish
Meanwhile, Singapore urged Indonesia on Monday to punish
companies responsible for the forest fires which had led to the
smoky haze covering much of the region.
Minister of the Environment Lee Yock Suan told Singapore's
parliament that Indonesia's laws were currently not very clear,
despite Jakarta's attempts to resolve the problem amid fears the
haze would return to the dangerous levels seen in 1997.
"It is very important for Indonesia to make sure its laws are
clear and there are sufficient teeth to take action against the
culprits," he was quoted as saying by AFP.
"Unfortunately, at the moment I think the law is really not
watertight.
"I think it is very important for Indonesia to show that it
has the political commitment and will to tackle this problem to
prevent it from becoming a disaster for the region again," he
said.
The comments were made amid rising fears that Indonesia could
be heading for a repeat of 1997 and part of 1998, in which fires
in Sumatra and Borneo covered much of the region with a choking
haze.
Despite a government ban in Indonesia on slash-and-burn land
clearing, the practice has continued unabated, including by large
plantation firms.
Lee said Indonesia also needed to clarify the structure of
enforcement, "whether it is the environment agency that is
responsible, or the forestry and plantation people who are
responsible or the local provincial officials .... All these
things have to be clarified".
Lee, however, said Indonesia was trying its best to resolve
the difficult problem and has threatened to prosecute and suspend
the licenses of four companies suspected of causing fires.
He said he had sought the cooperation of Indonesia to
undertake prompt and firm enforcement against plantation
companies that used fire to clear land.
The smoke has been blamed mostly on the large-scale burning of
forest and shrubs to clear land for the new planting season.
Lee said Singapore's air quality was not badly affected by the
haze in nearby Sumatra because of prevailing wind directions.
(08)