Indonesia needs 3 years to tackle haze: President Joko Widodo

In an interview with the BBC, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said he "needs time" to end the forest fires that are causing the haze.
Channel NewsAsia 30 Sep 15;

JAKARTA: It will take three years for results to be seen from efforts to end the huge annual forest fires that are causing the haze in the region, Indonesian President Joko Widodo told the BBC in an interview on Tuesday (Sep 29).

Mr Widodo said Indonesia had "gone to great lengths" to tackle the haze, "including sending 3,700 soldiers, nearly 8,000 police officers and four water-bombing planes to put out the fires".

The President also told the BBC that authorities are building water reserves in the forest and canals to get water to the hotspots, while also "making progress to enforce laws against forest-burning".

"You will see results soon and in three years we will have solved this," he said, adding that Indonesians were also victims of the haze.

Smog-belching blazes, an annual problem in South-East Asia, have intensified in Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo island in the past three weeks, sending a cloud of acrid smog across the region.

The illegal fires are set to clear vast tracts of land to make way for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations, and Indonesia has failed to halt the practice despite years of pressure from its neighbours.

- CNA/rw

Indonesia 'needs time' to tackle haze - Joko Widodo
BBC News 30 Sep 15;

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo has said he needs time to tackle the forest-burning which creates a haze every year over South East Asia.

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Mr Widodo said Indonesians were also victims of the haze, but it would take three years for results to be seen from efforts to end the huge annual fires.

He also said Indonesia was open to investment, promising to cut red tape.

And he dismissed criticism he had failed to deliver on election promises.

Illegal fires

Speaking to the BBC Asia Business correspondent Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta, Mr Widodo said the haze was "not a problem that you can solve quickly".

The pollution is caused by people in Indonesia's Sumatra, Kalimantan and Riau regions illegally burning large areas of forest and peat for planting, mostly with lucrative palm oil trees.

It is repeated point of tension between Indonesia and its neighbours every year, often causing air conditions classified as highly hazardous to human health. Earlier this year it was so bad in Riau province a state of emergency was declared.

Singapore and Malaysia have called on Indonesia to do more to address the problem, though Indonesia has often pointed out that some of the companies responsible for the burning are foreign-owned and that their neighbours benefit from cheap palm oil products.

Mr Widodo said Indonesia had "gone to great lengths" to tackle it already, including sending 3,700 soldiers, nearly 8,000 police officers and four water-bombing planes to put out the fires.

It was building water reserves in the forest and canals to get water to the hotspots, he said, while also making progress to enforce laws against forest-burning.

"You will see results soon and in three years we will have solved this," he said.

Joko Widodo swept to power a year ago, and captured the imagination of the country's youth with his man of the people image. But what a difference a year makes.

Although during the interview he appeared to put on a show of confidence about his handling of the economy - currently his administration's biggest headache - he was short on specifics and dismissed concerns that he has disappointed his supporters by saying that Indonesia is a big country and it takes time to fix the many problems it has.

That may be true but overwhelmingly the mood amongst investors and businesses I met in Jakarta was one of exasperation. When will the president stop talking and start acting, many asked me.

'Recovery on the way'

Mr Widodo - popularly known in Indonesia as Jokowi and a former governor of Jakarta - was elected in July last year promising to reinvigorate the economy and increase infrastructure spending.

But after a decade of improving living standards, Indonesia is facing its slowest average growth rate in a decade and many have already grown disillusioned.
Mr Widodo said government spending was picking up, and signs of recovery would be clear by early next year.

He said he was working to remove red tape in many industries to encourage investment and trigger growth.

But any infrastructure spending had to be privately funded and transparent, he said, saying a much-vaunted foreign-backed high-speed rail network was recently cancelled because it had not met these conditions.

"This is my job and my responsibility to open the door for investment, to provide a business environment in order to build industries in Indonesia. We have to build industrialisation and infrastructure so people can work there."

Watch Karishma's full interview with Joko Widodo on Talking Business this weekend on BBC World and BBC News Channel


Indonesia needs three years to solve haze problem, says President Joko Widodo
The Straits Times/Asia News Network Jakarta Globe 30 Sep 15;

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo said he needs time to tackle the forest-burning, and that his citizens were also victims of the haze that is affecting the region.

However, it would take three years for results to be seen from efforts to end the huge annual fires, as it is "not a problem that you can solve quickly," Mr Joko said in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

More than 3,700 soldiers, nearly 8,000 police officers and four water-bombing planes in Indonesia have been deployed to put out the fires.

Singapore has offered assistance, but Indonesia has yet to accept the help. Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also said he was "more than willing" to help.

Indonesia is building water reserves in the forest and canals to get water to the hot spots, Mr Joko said, following a visit to Central Kalimantan to inspect the damage from raging fires last week.

Laws against forest-burning have also been enforced, he added.

On Tuesday, Indonesia's police chief Badrodin Haiti told Asean ministers meeting in Kuala Lumpur that about 210 cases of forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra were being investigated, and 40 were ready to be taken to court soon

Singapore too have begun legal action against five Indonesian firms it believes are among the culprits behind the fires.

"You will see results soon and in three years we will have solved this," Mr Joko said. (k)(++++)


Indonesia needs years to tackle forest fires: Jokowi
Today Online 1 Oct 15;

JAKARTA — The annual fires that have blanketed Southeast Asia in hazardous smoke are not a problem that can be easily solved and it will take three years to see results, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said.

“We’ve been working hard in dealing with the haze problem but this isn’t a problem that you can solve quickly because it involves land burning in tens of thousands of hectares in six provinces. My people are the victims too,” he said in an interview with broadcaster BBC published on its website yesterday.

A source of tension between Indonesia and its neighbours every year, the pollution is caused by people in Indonesia’s Sumatra, Kalimantan and Riau regions illegally burning large swathes of forest and peat for planting, most notably with lucrative oil palm trees.

The thick smoke generated by the fires spreads to the neighbouring regions, engulfing large areas with acrid smog.

Singapore and Malaysia have called on Indonesia to do more to address the problem, though Indonesia has often pointed out that some of the companies responsible for the burning are foreign-owned and that their neighbours benefit from cheap palm oil products.

Mr Widodo dismissed criticism he had failed to deliver on election promises and told BBC that Indonesia has gone to “great lengths” to address the problem, deploying 3,700 military officers, 7,900 police officers, 18 helicopers and four planes to put out the fires.

“But again, we need time,” he added. “We need to build temporary water reserves in the forests, we need to dig canals to flow water to the peat forests. This physical work needs time. I think we need three years for all this physical work to be completed, for you to see the result. But I believe there will be progress every year too, because there is consistency in our approach.”

Nonetheless, Mr Widodo has ordered an acceleration of efforts to extinguish forest fires, the thick smoky haze of which has affected parts of western Indonesia and neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. The order was given to the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, who was summoned yesterday to brief the President on the haze.

Indonesia’s task force on the transboundary haze was also discussing yesterday whether it was necessary to raise the problem to the level of a national disaster. The decision to declare the haze a national disaster has to be made by the National Disaster Management Agency.

However, Indonesia’s Environment and Forestry Minister and head of the task force, Dr Siti Nurbaya Bakar, said that it was more important to tackle the problem operationally and put out the fires quickly.

“We will have this discussion today but for me, it’s more important about the operation instead of the terminology,” she explained. “What is the difference? The point is that we have to do the best thing for the people, also for our neighbours. I’m also following everyday and every hour what is happening with the air pollution in Singapore.”

The last time Indonesia declared a state of national emergency was during the 2004 Asian tsunami, which killed more than 200,000 in the country. AGENCIES