Indonesian Government Declines Singapore Help on Haze

Fidelis E. Satriastanti Jakarta Globe 15 Sep 11;

Though heavy haze continues to blanket parts of western Indonesia, the government said on Wednesday that things were under control and it did not need help from other countries.

Singapore, which falls victim to Indonesia’s annual haze problem, has offered to help put out forest fires. However, the deputy minister for environmental damage control and climate change, Arif Yuwono, said the government was capable of resolving the matter on its own.

Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishan told Channel NewsAsia that her country had offered to send aircraft to help Indonesia extinguish forest fires, which threaten to cast a pall over the city-state’s glitzy Formula 1 night race next week.

“We have a team on standby to help with putting out fires or even with cloud seeding, as well as technical assistance. It depends on whether the Indonesians request or require our assistance,” Balakrishan said.

Arif told the Jakarta Globe his ministry had yet to receive any formal offers, but no help needed.

“We don’t need any help [from foreign countries] because we already have our own standard procedures for handling disasters. The forest fires are now being handled by the BNPB [National Disaster Mitigation Agency] through rain-making operations,” he said.

“We also hope that the fires will decrease once the rainy season begins.”

Arif added that accepting help from foreign countries was complicated because the president needed to declare a natural disaster emergency and approve any aid from other countries.

Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the BNPB, also said there was no threat.

“Indonesia still has many resources, so any foreign help will be accepted only if we cannot control the situation ,” he said.

The government this week began rain-making operations focused on South Sumatra because the province will host the South East Asia Games in November and because it has 971 designated hotspots.

“We have decided to focus on putting out fires in the areas near the Games. We are creating buffer zones around the venues,” Arif said.

He added that three CASA 212-200 aircraft were being used to implement the month-long rainmaking initiative, which started on Monday.

Sutopo also claimed that the impact of the smoke was still localized and it had not reached other countries like fires in 1998 did. However, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported that the country’s Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas last week sent a letter to his Indonesian counterpart about hundreds of suspected fires on Sumatra.

The letter was sent as air quality on Friday dropped to a level deemed “unhealthy” in one area of Negeri Sembilan state, south of Kuala Lumpur.

Indonesia says it can tackle haze on its own
Zubaidah Nazeer Straits Times 16 Sep 11;

JAKARTA: Indonesia has rejected offers from Singapore and Malaysia to help in efforts to tamp down land and forest fires, despite reports of the resulting haze affecting the neighbouring countries.

Officials said yesterday they were able to cope with the haze, which they said had not spread beyond the country's borders.

'Singapore has offered help to Indonesia but we feel that we do not need the assistance yet,' Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, told The Straits Times.

'The haze is still manageable and Indonesia feels that it can overcome this on its own at this point. The haze has been localised and has not spread out of the country.'

Last month, Singapore officials wrote to Indonesian counterparts to register their concerns after PSI levels rose to their highest since June 2. The air pollution index hit 69 this week - considered moderate - as a hazy pall covered the island. Yesterday, the PSI levelled off at 18 after 6pm, the result of showers over the past two weeks.

On Wednesday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said Singapore stood ready to provide help with putting out the fires, cloud seeding and other technical assistance.

Malaysia's Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas last Friday also wrote to his Indonesian counterpart Gusti Muhammad Hatta as the air quality dipped in many Malaysian states.

Mr Arief Yuwono, Indonesia's Deputy Minister of Environment for Nature Conservation and Climate Change, said Jakarta was going through its own standard procedures for handling disasters and did not need additional help.

'We appreciate the attention and offer of assistance given by our neighbours, but at this point, we are confident of getting on top of the situation,' he told The Straits Times.

An annual occurrence, the haze is caused by farmers' burning of forests to clear land for cultivation. Fires started in peatlands linger longer as they can continue to burn underground.

The haze has in past years raised the political temperature in the region, sparking tense exchanges between Indonesia and Malaysia and Singapore. It has also led to finger-pointing, with some blaming foreign firms for the land-clearing, and others alleging collusion between local officials and plantation and paper-pulp companies.

In the last three days, however, heavy rain has helped to douse the fires. Officials also say cloud seeding has yielded results in three spots in South Sumatra, the worst-hit area.

But some activists say such moves are not long-term solutions.

Said Mr Anwar Sadat from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment: 'We need a systematic and tough approach to prevent companies from exploiting land and getting them to be more responsible, and to equip our farmers with environmentally friendly land-clearing techniques.'