Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 27 Jan 09;
The government is looking into whether the massive forest fires in Riau province, which have mostly struck easily burned peatland areas since last week, are man-made incidents.
The team — headed by the Office of the State Minister for the Environment’s investigation division head, Sahaifuddin Akbar — is expected to submit its findings to minister Rachmat Witoelar on Tuesday.
“Our team is still in the field, investigating whether the fires were intentionally set by companies or people,” Illyas Asaad, deputy minister for environmental compliance, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
“If the findings show the forest fires were intentionally set by companies, we promise to take stern action against the violators.”
A source close to the issue told the Post the forest fires were sparked because of massive business expansions by several companies operating in the province.
“According to our spatial data, there is a strong indication the ongoing forest fires are related to the expansions of two or three companies. We find the hot spots are located at the same coordinates as the companies’,” the source said.
The source also added the environment ministry could directly withdraw the firms’ business permits temporarily while the investigation was ongoing.
Thick smog from forest fires has blanketed Riau since Thursday, Antara news agency reported.
Data recorded by Singapore’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite show there were 142 hot spots as of Thursday.
A hot spot is defined as a fire covering at least a hectare.
Riau has asked for help from the government to stop forest fires, after flames encroached on Bengkalis, Palelawan, Indragiri Hilir and Dumai.
“We need help from the government, including helicopter and other equipment,” Deputy Governor Raja Mambang Mit said Monday.
“Our team is facing difficulties stopping the fires, because of the lack of equipment.”
Indonesia is the world’s third largest forest nation, with 120 million hectares of rainforest.
Frequent forest fires and rampant illegal logging, including in Riau, are two major causes of forest degradation across the country, making Indonesia among the biggest polluters in the world and a major climate-change culprit.
Neighboring Singapore and Malaysia have long complained about polluted smog ”exported” by Indonesia due to forest fires.
In 2006, 145,000 hot spots were detected, making it the second worst season since 1997. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to apologize to neighboring countries for the 2006 fires.
