Nurfika Osman & Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 22 Oct 10;
Jakarta. Haze is nothing new for Indonesia. It is now an annual phenomenon after affecting the country and the region for nearly three decades. Yet Indonesian officials on Thursday said data was still being gathered to detect the sources of the smog that this week began to blanket skies in the region.
Singaporean and Malaysian authorities have in the past two days lashed at Indonesia, blaming fires burning on Sumatra island for sending a thick smoke haze over their countries.
But officials at the Environment Ministry here appeared unfazed. “We haven’t received any official complaints from neighboring countries.
They can complain that the haze is originating in Indonesia.
However, it’s still a one-sided complaint. We still haven’t determined the source of the haze yet,” Ilyas Asaad, deputy minister for environmental communication and people’s empowerment, said at a press briefing.
Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim has told local media that the island republic was demanding that Indonesia deal with the recurring problem of forest fires on Sumatra.
The smoke haze has blanketed the sky over Singapore and some parts of the western coast of Malaysia.
Ibrahim was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying that Singapore was ready to offer Indonesia help to handle forest and bush fires widely blamed for the haze.
But he also said that if the situation worsened, environment ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations member states would have to meet to decide on what steps to take.
Yet, Agus Salim Lacuda, who heads the meteorology office at the Hang Nadim International Airport on Batam island just south of Singapore, told Antara that visibility was still at 6,000 meters and was not hampering flights.
Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Kuala Lumpur was seeking “more cooperation” from Jakarta in tackling the haze problem, state news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.
“We want action before the haze spreads and becomes more detrimental to Malaysia,” he said.
The haze has prompted Malaysia to warn vessels in the Malacca Strait of poor visibility as short as 2 nautical miles and shut many schools.
Singapore, covered in thick smoke this week, saw its air pollution index hit the highest level since 2006 on Wednesday.
Ilyas said that haste in determining the source of the haze was out of the question because of the multitude of possibilities for the source of the smoke.
He said they could come from plantations’ land clearing operations, from slash and burn agriculture or even from natural causes, such as burning peat soil or underground coal seams.
The country had first come under the international glare after massive wildfires in Kalimantan and Sumatra were compounded by the El Nino weather phenomenon in 1982-83 and again in 1997-98, sending a thick choking smog that hung over the region for months, causing traffic and health hazards.
Ari, an official of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency, or BMKG, said there were currently 83 hotspots detected in the country, 61 of them in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo island, and the remainder on Sumatra.
“Most of the hotspots are in Riau province [Sumatera] and in West Kalimantan province,” Ari said, adding that the number of fires was decreasing as on Wednesday it had been at 202, all in Kalimantan.
“The number is fluctuating and sometimes we are helped by the rain,” he said.
“The winds are blowing to the east until October 23, which means that Malaysia and Singapore will still experience haze from Indonesia,” Ari added.
Forest fire, haze links are ‘hazy’: Government
Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post 22 Oct 10;
The Indonesian government said Thursday it was unclear if the haze that has blanketed Singapore and Malaysia over the last two days originated in Indonesia — despite statements from the countries blaming the haze on fires in Riau province.
The Environment Ministry said it found no significant increase in fire hot spots in Riau or in any other Indonesian province this week.
“We have not determined if the source is from fires in Riau. We still need to check,” Environment Ministry deputy minister for environmental communication and people’s empowerment Ilyas Asaad told reporters at a press conference.
“It is still a one-sided complaint from Singapore or Malaysia,” Ilyas said, in response to statements that the haze had come from Indonesia.
Reuters reported from Kuala Lumpur that haze prompted Malaysian authorities to alert vessels in the Malacca Strait of poor visibility and to order school closures.
Singapore has been covered in thick smoke this week while its three-hour Pollutant Standards Index recorded a rise to an “unhealthy” range of 108 as of 6 p.m. (1000 GMT), much higher than 80 on Wednesday, which was the worst since 2006, as reported by Reuters.
However Singapore’s port and Singapore Changi Airport were still functioning as normal, according
to reports.
According to a ministry report on fire hot spots in Riau issued on Thursday, in the first week of October there were 97 hot spots in Riau.
The number jumped to 251 in the second week of October and declined to 219 in the third week before further declining on Oct. 17, when 65 hot spots were recorded in the Rokan Hilir regency.
Illyas added that the ministry had not received any official complaints from either the Malaysian or Singaporean governments.
The Malaysian government said it had ordered the closure of more than 200 schools in southern Malaysia on Thursday after a drop in air quality due to the haze from fires in Indonesia, the Associated Press reported.
Singapore environment and water resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim also expressed disappointment on the haze and told Jakarta to deal with the recurring fires.
The Forestry Ministry rejected claims that haze originated in Indonesia, saying fire hot spots were also detected in other countries, including in Malaysia, on Oct. 19.
Ministry spokesperson Masyhud said there were only 37 hot spots detected on Oct. 19 in Riau, and less than 10 hot spots were recorded in forests.
“We also recorded fire hot spots in other countries, namely 13 hot spots in Serawak [in Malaysia], 10 in the Philippines and 19 in Myanmar, so the haze in Singapore and Malaysia cannot not simply be blamed on Indonesia,” Masyhud said.
“The source of haze in the two countries would depend on wind patterns,” he added.
Forest and land fires have long been annual events in Indonesia during the dry season.
PSI crosses 100; Govt urges Jakarta to act
Malaysian officials also demand answers
Jeremy Au Yong Straits Times 22 Oct 10;
AS HAZE blanketed the island yesterday and air quality deteriorated sharply into the unhealthy range, the Singapore Government urged Indonesia to act.
The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI), measured in three-hourly slots, hit 108 at 6pm yesterday - breaching the unhealthy threshold of 100 for the first time since 2006.
The worsening situation prompted Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim and Foreign Minister George Yeo to register Singapore's concerns with their Indonesian counterparts.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) said Dr Yaacob had contacted his Indonesian counterpart Gusti Muhammad Hatta and expressed his deep concern that the haze would deteriorate if Indonesia did not put in place 'immediate and enhanced measures' to put out the hot spots in Sumatra.
Singapore also repeated its earlier offer to assist in fire-fighting efforts.
Singapore's ambassador in Jakarta was also instructed yesterday to inform the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that Mr Yeo wished to speak to his counterpart Marty Natalegawa.
Singapore was not the only one urging Indonesia to act. Malaysian officials also wrote to the Indonesians demanding answers. Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying that the haze came from Indonesia. 'We are not simply making accusations, but we want action before the haze spreads and becomes more detrimental to Malaysia,' he said.
Latest satellite images show that the haze-causing forest fires are continuing to burn. Prevailing south-westerly to westerly winds are still bringing the smoke haze to Singapore and the NEA expects this to continue today and tomorrow. It said the Inter-agency Haze Task Force comprising representatives of various government agencies met yesterday to prepare to gear up if the haze worsened.
Even as Singaporeans continued to cope with the effects of the haze, MPs and observers were more concerned about directing their concern at the source. Mr Michael Palmer, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Foreign Affairs, said it was key now for Singapore to continue engaging its Asean partner, Indonesia. 'We just need to keep pressure on them,' he said.
Asean countries have been trying to solve the haze problem since the region was hit severely by the smoke pollution in 1997. That year, the PSI peaked at 226. In 2006, the highest reading was 150 over a three-hour period. Both years saw a total of 15 days when the haze was in the unhealthy range.
The current situation is likely to see intensified calls for Indonesia to ratify the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Indonesia is the only Asean country yet to do so.
It is understood State Environment Minister Gusti did not attend an Asean meeting on the haze pact in Brunei last week even though he was there for the environment ministers meeting. Indonesia assumes the chairmanship of Asean in January.
The reaction from Jakarta yesterday was muted. Officials insisted it was up to the local authorities to enforce the no-burn policy on the ground.
Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan told The Straits Times his ministry's officials were closely monitoring the hot spots in Riau province, but had delegated the work to the local authorities.
Much of the burning was taking place on peat land, including land marked for oil palm plantations, he said.
'The provincial and district governments are in charge of this,' he said.
Despite being banned, the practice of burning to clear land still goes on.
In comments likely to upset those affected by the haze, an Indonesian government spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday: 'There are also hot spots in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. So it is premature to say that the haze is always from Indonesia.
'It has been only a week of smoke but people are already making so much noise. What about all the oxygen that (Indonesia) supplies to them during the rest of the year?'
In Singapore, people retreated indoors as the day wore on and the PSI rose. Tourists tried to make the best of it, snapping pictures against greyed-out backdrops. The Education Ministry said all physical education lessons, sports and games are to be cancelled once the PSI reading is in the unhealthy range.
Athletes training for the upcoming Asian Games said they were prepared to cut down training or move indoors.
Two S-league soccer matches due to be played last night would also be rescheduled. Defence Ministry spokesman Desmond Tan said that once the PSI crossed 100, the SAF would reduce physical activities and outdoor training.
The NEA advised those with existing heart conditions or respiratory ailments to reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities.
Additional reporting by Amresh Gunasingham
Limit to what Jakarta can do about haze
Up to the local authorities to enforce no-burn policy, but resources lacking
Lynn Lee, Straits Times 22 Oct 10;
JAKARTA: Even as government officials here gave assurances yesterday that the fires on Sumatra island causing the haze were under control, they stressed that it was up to the local authorities to enforce the no-burn policy on the ground.
But activists said the local governments also lack resources to enforce the law. There is also still a lack of clarity about who is really responsible for clamping down on burning.
This, they said, underscores the difficulty in combating Indonesia's annual forest and land fires. With lax enforcement on the ground and a limit to what Jakarta can do, plantation owners are testing their luck and continuing to start fires to clear the land.
Yesterday, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan told The Straits Times that his ministry officials were monitoring the hot spots - the areas on fire - closely in Riau province, but had left the local authorities to extinguish the fires.
Much of the burning was taking place on peat land, including land marked for oil palm plantations, he said.
'The provincial and district government is in charge of this,' he said. 'The fire has also reached the border of land owned by the timber industry, and they are also helping to put out the burning.'
Separately, the Environment Ministry's head of land and forest fires, Mr Purwasto Saroprayogi, said he had been told by Riau provincial officials that they had sent out people to control the fires.
'They are now investigating whether the fires were caused deliberately and who is to blame,' he said.
Officials from Jakarta, he added, would visit the province to check if matters got worse.
Despite it being banned, the practice of burning to clear land still goes on, resulting in a blanket of haze that gets carried to neighbouring countries - including Singapore and Malaysia - every year.
Asked why it was still taking place, Mr Purwasto said: 'Perhaps there was a slip-up in monitoring this year, and some people took advantage of this.'
Activists suspect that plantation owners have 'commissioned' the burning, which is a cheap, quick way to clear land for cultivation.
'The plantation owners will just pay the locals to do it,' said Mr Fitrian Ardiansyah, an adviser to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in Indonesia.
'For the people, there is no incentive to say no, as they can see that there is poor enforcement of the law and they are not likely to be punished.'
Former environment minister Rachmat Witoelar said the central government has consistently encouraged the local authorities to be pro-active in preventing slash-and-burn activities.
But enforcement, he added, is fraught with difficulties.
'We are talking about a large area, with so many people. The ownership of the land is also not clear,' he said.
It was not just Indonesian companies, he added, but also Singapore companies that had business interests in the area.
Other activists added that it was still unclear whether the local or central government is in charge of clamping down on the fires. If it is the sole purview of the local authorities, they said, then they need more financial and technical support.
Fires and the resulting haze have occurred in Sumatra yearly for the past decade, but Indonesia remains the only country that has yet to ratify an Asean-wide agreement on cutting out transboundary haze pollution. The law has been jammed at Parliament for the past few years.
WWF's Mr Fitrian said legislators were reluctant to pass the law because they believed Indonesia would be saddled with large obligations but gain little from it. They also think the country can fight the haze problem without a regional haze pact, he said.
Officials in Indonesia have from time to time also passed the buck to their neighbours, saying that the burning of land also takes place elsewhere.
A government spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday: 'There are also hot spots in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. So it is premature to say that the haze is always from Indonesia.'
Echoing comments made on online news sites about the current situation, he added: 'It has only been a week of smoke but people are already making so much noise. What about all the oxygen that (Indonesia) supplies to them during the rest of the year?'
Additional reporting by Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
KL seeks answers and action plan from Jakarta
Elizabeth Looi, Straits Times 22 Oct 10;
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia moved to seek answers from Indonesia as haze continued to shroud parts of two states along the Malacca Strait, keeping some schools closed.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said that he has contacted his Indonesian counterpart to ask for action to be taken, while a Department of Environment official has also written to her counterpart.
Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said that Kuala Lumpur was seeking 'more cooperation' from Jakarta and was also prepared to provide help, including in the form of logistics, to tackle the problem.
'According to the reports we've received, the haze originates from there (Indonesia),' he was reported as saying by Bernama. 'We are not simply making accusations, but we want action before the haze spreads and becomes more detrimental to Malaysia.'
The pressure from the Malaysian government came as the haze shrouded parts of Johor and Malacca on Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing schools to be closed in Johor's coastal town of Muar.
The air quality in Muar reached hazardous levels on Wednesday, with the air pollutant index (API) hitting 432.
An API reading that exceeds 301 is considered hazardous. A 0-50 reading is healthy; 100-200, unhealthy; and 210-300, very unhealthy.
Yesterday, the air quality over Johor and Malacca improved, with the API dropping to moderate levels of below 100 in the two states.
The government, however, is playing it safe, and has ordered schools in Muar to remain closed until the situation is safe. It also distributed 10,000 face masks in Muar yesterday, and has alerted ships in the Malacca Strait of the poor visibility.
Other parts of Malaysia - including Kuala Lumpur - have not been affected so far.
Every year, Malaysia and Singapore are affected by the haze caused by the burning of forests in neighbouring Indonesia, especially during the dry spell, prompting them to press Jakarta for action.
Datuk Douglas noted that Indonesia had presented an action plan to counter the open burning at an Asean ministerial-level meeting on haze in Brunei last month.
Department of Environment director-general Rosnani Ibrahim also told The Straits Times that she had on Tuesday and Wednesday written to her Indonesian counterparts, both at official and ministerial levels.
Indonesian officials have yet to respond, however.
The apparent lack of action has angered Malaysians, who also blame their own government for not pushing the Indonesian authorities harder.
'We are frustrated that we have to suffer every year, but all the government and other countries do is just talk, there is no real action,' lamented a Malacca resident who wanted to be known only as Mr Foo.
Worst haze from Indonesia in 4 years hits neighbors hard
Nopporn Wong-Anan Reuters 21 Oct 10;
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Illegal forest clearing fires in Indonesia's Sumatra Island are sending haze across the Malacca Strait to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, causing the worst air pollution since 2006, officials said on Thursday.
Despite pledge among governments to deter fires, the haze prompted Malaysia to alert vessels in the Malacca Strait of poor visibility as short as 2 nautical miles and shut many schools.
Singapore, covered in thick smoke this week, saw its air pollution index hit the highest level since 2006 on Wednesday. The port and international airport are still functioning as normal.
"The suspicion is that this is coming from forests that have been opened up for plantations. We think it may be for palm oil," Purwasto Saroprayogi, head of the land and forest fires department at Indonesia's Environment Ministry, told Reuters.
Saroprayogi said the haze was caused by fires lit to clear land illegally in Dumai and Bengkalis districts in Riau province, in the north of Sumatra island.
Indonesia has a long history of weak forestry law enforcement and illegal land clearing by palm oil developers is not uncommon.
Fires clear land quickly and reduce the acidity of peatland soil, but release vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the air.
The haze returned to the region less than a week after environment ministers in Southeast Asia met in Brunei to address land and forest fires, which drew immediate flak from neighbors.
"This is not the first time that we have informed the Indonesians that they should pay attention to hotspots in Sumatra and Borneo," Singapore's Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim told reporters on Wednesday.
Yaacob said if the haze worsened, "we will register our concerns again, perhaps on even stronger terms, to our Indonesian colleagues," adding Singapore may seek to reconvene another meeting to find "additional measures" to mitigate the problem.
Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said Kuala Lumpur was seeking "more cooperation" from Jakarta in tackling the haze problem, state news agency Bernama quoted him as saying.
"According to the reports we've received, the haze originates from there (Indonesia). We are not simply making accusation but we want action before the haze spreads and becomes more detrimental to Malaysia," he said.
Muhyiddin, also education minister, said schools in Muar town in southern Johor state had been closed and about 5,000 masks were distributed after air quality hit hazardous levels, the Star newspaper reported on Thursday.
The worst haze hit the region in 1997-98, when drought caused by El Nino led to major Indonesian fires. The smoke spread to Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand and cost more than $9 billion in damage to tourism, transport and farming.
(Additional reporting by Sunanda Creagh in Jakarta and Niluksi Koswanage in Kuala Lumpur; Editing by Miral Fahmy)
Haze From Indonesia Disturbs Neighbouring Countries
Bernama 21 Oct 10;
JAKARTA, Oct 21 (Bernama) -- Forest fires burning in Indonesia began to affect neighbouring countries, spreading thick clouds of smoke and haze to Malaysia and Singapore, news agencies reported Thursday.
Speaking to China's Xinhua news agency, Head of Weather Monitoring Unit of Sumatra's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency Marzuki said despite the number of hot spots has decreased after rains, the feasibility is still low in Riau province.
This is also not a favorable condition for flights and one small airport in Dumai district was closed on Wednesday due to the haze, said a weather observer at Riau province Tarman Sembiring to Xinhua on Thursday.
In MALAYSIA, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday advised schools in Muar to temporarily close as the haze enveloping the district has reached a hazardous level.
Indonesian news wire Antara reported that the skies over Singapore were slightly hazy on Saturday, attributing this to the smoke haze from the fires in Sumatra brought in by the prevailing southwesterly winds.
Although rains have decreased the hot spots, on Oct 20, some 61 hot spots were detected mainly in the Riau Province in Sumatra. The previous day, Riau detected 202 hot spots.
Officials said that the haze is resulted from land clearing, which is enveloped frequently in Sumatra, Borneo islands of Indonesia up to some Asean neighbouring countries, which causes billions of dollars financial loss.
-- BERNAMA
Singapore offers help to douse Sumatra forest fires
Antara 21 Oct 10;
Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - Singapore has offered to help extinguish forest and bush fires in various parts of Indonesia`s Sumatra island that had now begun to affect the city state.
The neighboring country`s offer was made by its minister for environment and water resources, Yaacob Ibrahim, according to a Channelnews Asia report on Thursday.
As a result of the ongoing hot spots in Sumatra Island, haze had blanketed the sky over Singapore over the past three days.
Ibrahim said the border crossing smoke could not be regarded as a small problem. Therefore, Singapore was ready to offer help to Indonesia to work together to handle forest and bush fires as the cause of the haze, he said.
If the situation got worse, the environment ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states need to hold a meeting for talks about necessary measures taken for resolving the problem, he said.
Ibrahim said a warning that possible forest fires could happen despite the ongoing wet weather condition this year had actually been underlined at a meeting in Brunei Darussalam recently.
On Wednesday afternoon, Singapore`s air pollution standard index was at 72 percent or lower than that of the day before.
Besides blanketing Singapore, the haze of forest and bush fires on various parts of Sumatra Island also covered the sky of Batam Island in Riau Islands Province on Wednesday.
The smoke also blanketed the sky above the areas near Batam, such as that of the islands of Rempang and Galang, a local climatologist and meteorologist said.
The haze was likely caused by the forest fires, and slash and burns on certain parts of the Sumatra Island, Agus Salim Lacuda said.
Despite the cloudy sky as a result of the haze, flights were not yet hampered due to clear enough visibility, he said.
"The pilots` visibility from Wednesday morning to mid day remains at six thousand meters. So this is still good for airplanes," said Lacuda, head of the Hang Nadim International Airport`s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics office.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration`s (NOAA) satellite has detected 202 hot spots on Indonesia`s Sumatra Island on Tuesday.
The Pekanbaru-based Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency`s analyst, Slamet Riyadi, said that most of the hot spots were found in South Sumatra Province with 66 hot spots.
The remaining hot spots were detected in the provinces of Jambi, Riau, Bangka Belitung, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Aceh, and Lampung with 42, 36, 24, 16, 13, 3 and 2 hot spots respectively, he said.
On Monday, the imagery data released by NOAA satellite showed 358 hot spots throughout the island. But the number decreased to 202 thanks to rainfalls in some provinces, he said.
The presence of hot spots in Riau and other provinces in Sumatra Island was one of the indications of forest and bush fires.
In extinguishing the forest and bush fire, the Riau provincial government was recommended to make artificial rain to halt the spread of fire, he said.
"We are going to ask the central government (through forestry ministry) to provide us with funds for making artificial rain," he said.(*)
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