Thick haze begins to reach southern Thailand

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thick haze resulting from the use of the slash and burn method to clear farmland in Sumatra has reached the southern part of Thailand, reducing visibility but not yet posing risks to public health, said a Thai government official on Wednesday.

Dr. Maroot Jirasaetsiri, deputy director of the Public Health Center in Satun province, 740 kilometers south of Bangkok, was quoted by DPA as saying that the haze began appearing last month and now had covered much of the southern part of the country.

Prior to the Thai government's report, the Malaysian government had also complained about the appearance of haze, saying that it was caused by forest fires in Sumatra.

But an Indonesian government official rejected the reports saying that although there were over 5,800 hot spots in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi islands as of June 9, there were also more than 1,200 hot spots detected on the Malaysia Peninsula, more than 500 in Serawak and Sabah, 48 in the Philippines and 243 in Thailand.

"We're not alone in having forest fires. Of course, there are more hot spots in our country as it is very large," Koes Saparjadi, the newly installed director general for forest protection and nature conservation at the Ministry of Forestry, told a press conference on Wednesday.

Hot spots usually indicate the occurrence of forest fires.

Koes said that out of more than 5,800 hot spots, some 1,800 of them were in forest concessions, 437 on estates, 133 in protected forests, 48 in transmigration areas, 1,400 in plantations and 1,992 in other areas.

Although many hot spots were detected on company-held land, Koes admitted that the government had yet to conduct an investigation into whether the concessionaires were clearing land using the slash and burn method.

"We have to admit that our law enforcement is still very poor as regards forest fires," he said.

So far, only a Malaysian company PT Adei Plantation has been brought to book over forest fires. It was fined US$1.1 million and the director was sent to prison for clearing land using the slash and burn method.

The government banned the practice of burning off scrub in 1999 after widespread fires sent thick haze over neighboring countries Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Thailand, causing respiratory problems for millions of people and disrupting aviation.

Koes also warned that the current forest fires were just in their early stages and would reach their peak in September or October.

"So far we have prepared for the fires by deploying fire- fighting teams. That's the best thing we can do besides monitoring the hot spots," he said.

He admitted that it had been very difficult to stop land clearance using the slash and burn method as it was the cheapest way of preparing land for agriculture or planting.

However, Koes remained optimistic that forest fires this year would not be as bad as last year due to a better early warning system for provincial administrations.

Meanwhile, State Minister for the Environment Nabiel Makarim said that most forest fires in West Kalimantan were caused by a number of companies that continued to use the slash and burn method to clear land.

He promised to gather evidence to prove their wrongdoing.