Kalimantan, Sumatra forest fires turn into blaming game

Kalimantan, Sumatra forest fires turn into blaming game

JAKARTA (JP): The government blames the nomadic tribes. The
Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) blames the forestry
concessionaires. Now the concessionaires are blaming the weather.

While neighboring Malaysia and Singapore are complaining
loudly about the haze that comes from the bush fires in
Kalimantan and Sumatra, in Jakarta various parties are still
trying to work out what or who started the fires. And it is
turning into a finger pointing game.

The Forestry Society of Indonesia (MPI) took particular
offense at Walhi's suggestion last week that the fires in
Kalimantan were chiefly started by inexperienced forestry
concessionaires and plantation companies who ignited fires to
clear the land.

"Their charges are not true, we believe that the fires were
primarily triggered by the prolonged dry season," MPI Secretary
General Tjipto Wignjoprajitno told The Jakarta Post by phone on
Saturday.

Tjipto, who is also the Secretary General of the Association
of Indonesian Wood Panel Producers (Apkindo), said "human factor"
only played a minor element in the fires which are raging in
Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

"Of course, some of the fires was caused by slash and burn
cultivations practiced by the nomadic tribes, or even arson which
originated from labor or land disputes," he said.

"But these are not the primary causes."

Walhi executive Emmy Hafield defended the Dayaks, the local
Kalimantan tribe, in the face of a government minister accusation
that their slash and burn cultivation practice has been the main
cause of the fires.

Walhi officials said that the Dayaks know when they should
clear the land to begin their planting season. The Dayak people
make use of centuries-old methods in selecting the planting
season by referring to the moon and stars.

Since the fires started sometime this month, it was naive to
blame the local tribes for the disaster because they finished
their land clearing schedule in August, they said.

Support

Meanwhile, Indro Tjahjono of the Indonesian Secretariat for
Forest Protection (Skephi), armed with statistics, joined in the
blaming game yesterday, throwing his support behind Walhi.

Indro said that of the current fires raging, about 60 percent
is in plantation areas while the other 37 percent is burning down
the transmigration-timber concession areas.

"Most of these two areas are controlled by private firms,"
Indro told the Post. "Most of them have very poor environmental
managements," he said.

He also added that those companies either simply burn the area
for land clearing or leave a lot of dry branches behind after
land clearing, which can easily cause forest fires.

Tjipto denied the allegations of poor environmental awareness
among forestry concessionaires.

"We always follow the rules prescribed by the Ministry of
Forestry," he said. "If there are abuses, they are isolated cases
and will be dealt with by the Association and the government."

Indro said the nomadic tribes live in isolation around the
conserved-forest areas and not near plantations or timber
estates.

"Of the total area of the current forest fires, only about two
percent is in the conserved-forest areas," he said. "The nomadic
tribes are not the main culprits," he added. (hdj)