MICHAEL TAYLOR AND KANUPRIYA KAPOOR Reuters 15 Sep 15;
A worsening haze across northern Indonesia, neighboring Singapore and parts of Malaysia on Tuesday forced some schools to close and airlines to delay flights, while Indonesia ordered a crackdown against lighting fires to clear forested land.
Southeast Asia has suffered for years from annual bouts of smog caused by slash-and-burn practices in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, but governments in the region have failed to address the problem.
The fires have been exacerbated this year by the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon, as a prolonged dry season in Indonesia has parched the top soil, fuelling the flames.
"The fire problems have reached a critical point," Luhut Pandjaitan, coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, told reporters.
"Our neighboring countries have protested for years. We are not playing around."
President Joko Widodo, who was on an official visit to the Middle East, instructed security forces late Monday to accelerate efforts to extinguish the fires and revoke land permits from companies found responsible.
Nearly 3,000 military and police personnel, 17 helicopters and four cloud-seeding aircraft have been deployed to fight the fires, according to the country's disaster management agency.
A state of emergency has been declared in Indonesia's Riau and Central Kalimantan provinces as an air quality index has hit "dangerous" levels, rising to as high as 984, officials said.
In Singapore, the index has fluctuated well above 100, levels considered "unhealthy", for the past few days, and reached as high as 249 on Monday night, putting it in "very unhealthy" territory.
Indonesia has struggled for years to contain forest fires and the resulting haze despite repeatedly promising to punish perpetrators.
THOUSANDS SICK
The unhealthy air has caused acute respiratory infections for around 26,000 people in Indonesia's Riau province alone, a government official said.
It has also increased the workload for doctors in Malaysia and Singapore, where the haze has clouded the build-up to the Formula One night race later this week.
Malaysia said it was preparing to conduct cloud-seeding operations to reduce the haze as schools were closed in several states and some flights were disrupted due to poor visibility.
The smog is usually caused by firms and small-holder farmers clearing land adjacent to existing concessions for palm or pulp and paper.
Major plantation companies like Asia Pulp and Paper say they have a "zero burning" policy but have often been criticized by green groups for not doing enough to stop the haze.
Indonesian authorities plan to sanction this week three or four companies of the total 26 under investigation, said Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, with the revoking of their land permits a possibility.
(Additional reporting by Bernadette Christina and Eveline Danubrata in JAKARTA, Trinna Leong in KUALA LUMPUR and Fathin Ungku in SINGAPORE; Editing by Randy Fabi and Simon Cameron-Moore)
Indonesia fights fires as haze cloaks region before Singapore F1
AsiaOne 15 Sep 15;
A view of the Marina Bay Street Circuit from Swissotel The Stamford at 7pm on 21 September 2014.
JAKARTA - Indonesia Tuesday deployed an extra 1,600 military personnel to fight forest and farm fires that have cast a thick haze over the region, closing schools in Malaysia and shrouding Singapore in smog just as it prepares to host the glitzy Formula One race.
President Joko Widodo ordered the military ramp-up on Sumatra after authorities declared a state of emergency in the island's hard-hit Riau province Monday.
The personnel were dispatched to Riau and South Sumatra provinces to help local authorities fight fires, joining over 1,000 soldiers sent to the area last week, Indonesia's disaster agency said.
Tens of thousands of people in smoke-choked regions of Indonesia have fallen ill, while air travel there -- as well as in parts of Malaysia -- has been hit by sporadic flight delays or cancellations due to poor visibility.
Malaysian authorities ordered the closure of more than 2,000 schools, affecting 1.5 million students, while the haze reportedly forced Prime Minister Najib Razak to scrap a planned helicopter ride and take a 90-minute road journey instead.
Najib had been due to travel by helicopter from Kuching, capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, to the town of Sematan 100 kilometres (62 miles) away, state-run Bernama news agency said.
But he instead had to travel by car to an event held to officiate the construction of a highway, it said.
Fears are mounting that the smog enveloping regional financial hub Singapore, where air quality remained at unhealthy levels, could affect this weekend's Grand Prix.
Organisers of Formula One's only night race, which sees cars speed along a brightly illuminated track alongside landmarks and is coupled with pop concerts, have said they are closely monitoring the haze.
A heavy downpour brought clearer skies over the affluent city-state Tuesday, but a strong smell of burning wood and foliage remained in the air. Businesses and schools were operating normally.
'Firm legal action'
Smog-belching blazes, an annual problem in Southeast Asia during the dry season, have intensified in Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo island in the past two weeks, sending a cloud of acrid haze across the region.
The illegal fires are started, often by local farmers and landowners, to clear 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.
More than half of Malaysia's 52 pollutant monitoring stations around the country registered "unhealthy" air on Tuesday.
After announcing late Monday that more troops would be sent to Sumatra, Widodo said he had ordered law enforcement agencies to take action against "parties responsible for the forest fires".
"I want to stress that very firm legal action will be taken," said the president, who is currently on a trip to the Middle East.
Around 100 people and 15 companies are being investigated over the blazes, according to the disaster agency.
Pressure to stop the annual outbreaks of smog has increased since 2013 when Southeast Asia suffered its worst air pollution crisis for more than a decade, but attempts to find a regional solution have moved slowly.
Singapore said this week Indonesia had agreed to share the names of companies suspected of causing the fires. Indonesia has previously faced criticism for failing to hand over such information, which could be used to prosecute law-breakers.
Malaysian Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told AFP he was worried as the haze "affects the health of our people" and said he planned to meet his Indonesian counterpart, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, later this month to discuss the issue.
Indonesia orders action against land burning as haze chokes SE Asia
Kanupriya Kapoor Reuters 15 Sep 15;
Indonesian President Joko Widodo called late on Monday for strong action against anyone caught lighting fires to clear forested land, as a worsening haze blanketed the north of the country and neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
Southeast Asia has suffered for years from annual bouts of smog caused by slash-and-burn practices in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan islands, but governments in the region have failed to address the problem.
Air quality dipped to "unhealthy levels" in Malaysia and Singapore this week. Schools were closed in several Malaysian states and some flights were disrupted on Tuesday due to poor visibility. The haze can cause respiratory problems, and irritate the eyes and throat.
The fires have been exacerbated this year by the effects of the El Nino weather phenomena, as a prolonged dry season in Indonesia has parched the top soil, fuelling the flames.
Widodo, who is on a state visit to the Middle East, said he had instructed security forces to accelerate efforts to extinguish the fires.
"I have asked authorities to take strict legal action against those responsible for the forest fires, including revoking their land permits," Widodo said in a statement.
Indonesian police have named over 100 people as suspects in slash-and-burn cases in Kalimantan and Sumatra, according to local media.
The smog is usually caused by palm oil and pulp and paper companies, some of which are listed in Singapore. The firms blame small-holders for the fires but have been criticized by green groups for not doing enough to stop the haze or rampant deforestation in Indonesia.
Singapore's environment minister said late on Monday that Indonesia had agreed to share names of companies causing the fires once the information had been verified.
Indonesian Forestry and Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar last week said authorities were investigating 10 firms, which could face sanctions if found violating the law.
Indonesia's Riau province declared a state of emergency this week as, according to local media, nearly 25,000 people there and on Sumatra island suffered respiratory problems. The PSI air quality index hit a "dangerous" high of 984 in the provincial capital this week, according to the national disaster management agency.
Indonesia has deployed hundreds of military troops to fight the fires and would send in additional helicopters to water-bomb the affected areas if necessary, the national disaster management agency said.
(Additional reporting by Trinna Leong in KUALA LUMPUR; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
