Ministry told to anticipate recurrence of forest fires

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has ordered the Ministry of Forestry and Plantations to establish a task force to anticipate a recurrence of large-scale forest fires.

The order was contained in the official summary of a cabinet meeting to monitor efforts to accelerate the economic recovery which was released here on Tuesday.

"With the establishment of the task force it is hoped that the widespread forest fires experienced by Indonesia in 1998 will not reoccur".

"For implementation purposes, the forestry and plantations minister is ordered to coordinate with local administrations and the TNI (the Indonesian Military)," the summary said.

Indonesia has repeatedly been hit by widespread forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra which have consumed hundreds of thousands of hectares of forest.

The prevailing winds have also had an adverse effect on neighboring countries as choking haze gave rise to major problems in Singapore and Malaysia.

Meanwhile in Singapore, AP reported that officials there were warning that haze from Indonesia could begin to effect the island state over the next two to three days.

"Over the past two days, satellite pictures have shown a significant increase in the number of hot spots in central Sumatra," Singapore's environment ministry said in a statement on Tuesday,

"Should the fires spread further and the winds change to a more westerly direction, Singapore could be affected by some smoke haze in a few days," the statement said.

On Tuesday, Singapore's Pollutant Standards Index reading stood at 42, up from Monday's reading of 38. A reading of 50 or below is considered "good," while higher than 50 is "moderate" and higher than 100 "unhealthy." (byg)