Indonesia says facing major challenges in putting out fires

As Indonesia races to douse the fires, factors such as poor visibility and dry weather is not making their job any easier.

By Saifulbahri Ismail Channel NewsAsia 12 Oct 15;

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan says multinational efforts to put out the fires in South Sumatra are progressing well.

However he predicts that the combined team will face major challenges as they race to douse the fires. Mr Luhut says the haze may not go away for the next 10 days at least.

In a news conference on Monday (Oct 12), he explained that waterbombing missions that began on Sunday have not had their maximum effect due to the poor visibility that is restricting the aircraft.

In addition, cloud seeding cannot be done because there are no clouds. Mr Luhut said fire fighting in the next few days will still be focused on South Sumatra specifically in the Ogan Komering Ilir area, which is where a lot of the haze is coming from.

He added that drones are being used to guide the firefighting efforts. The firefighting team is also using chemicals to mix with the water used in waterbombing operations. These fire retardant chemicals can help reduce the temperature on the ground, making it difficult for the peatland to ignite again.

Mr Luhut says the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) has used about US$29 million to tackle the crisis, and will set aside another US$52 million for further efforts.

The minister added that fighting the fires this year is a challenge because the current El Nino phenomenon that is causing the dry weather is worse than it was in 1997-1998. He also stressed that all the ministries are coordinating well in their effort to tackle the forest fires.

Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi said that Japan is expected to help in this aspect.

The Japanese are offering their own chemical substances and are also planning to send a team of experts to oversee the use of these substances. Russia is also in final preparations to send two BE-200 amphibious aircraft, each with the capacity to carry 12,000 litres of water.

Indonesia is also in discussions with Thailand and China to see what kind of help they can offer.

- CNA/yt


S. Sumatra to maximize efforts to extinguish land fires
Antara 12 Oct 15

Palembang (ANTARA News) - South Sumatra will maximize its efforts to put out forest and land fires by using the assistance of foreign aircraft, South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin stated.

The governor noted here on Monday that the efforts to extinguish the land fires using aircraft from neighboring countries would be focused on the districts of Musi Banyuasin and Ogan Koering Ilir.

He said his side will use foreign assistance in the form of aircraft to put out the fires in Musi Banyuasin and Ogan Komering Ilir as most of the hotspots in South Sumatra were found in the two districts.

Noerdin remarked that as part of the operations, the team will deploy a helicopter from Singapore and an amphibious Bombardier CL415MMP aircraft from Malaysia.

The governor expressed optimism that the operations would be effective and successful in ending the forest fires, which had been spreading as a result of the drought in South Sumatra.

Noerdin revealed that the operations will continue to be carried out until the land fires in South Kalimantan were extinguished. He added that the South Sumatra government was thankful for the foreign assistance and expressed hope that the hotspots and haze would soon disappear.

The governor stated that the protracted fires in South Sumatra, regardless of continued attempts to extinguish them, had garnered the empathy of neighboring countries to provide aircraft assistance.

The efforts undertaken so far have failed to end the fires as they had burnt the peatland areas and had occurred in far off locations.

Noerdin expressed hope that the problem of hotspots and haze would be solved by utilizing the aircraft assistance.

Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo stated on Thursday, last week, that the government of Indonesia would welcome foreign offers to help battle forest fires in the country that have caused major inconvenience by leading to haze or thick smoke that has even reached neighboring countries.

"The government would welcome any offer from neighboring countries that are keen to help," the minister affirmed here on last Thursday.

He expressed disappointment over the criticism being voiced by neighboring countries who are blaming Indonesia for the smoke being blown by strong winds from forest fires in Sumatra or Kalimantan.

"Please do not entirely place the blame on this sovereign country. If they honestly want to help, please do," he emphasized.

Kumolo remarked that the government had done its best and had taken firm measures against suspects responsible for the fire tragedy.

He noted that several palm oil plantation companies had been charged with causing the fires, and some of them were owned by investors from neighboring countries.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is currently visiting Jambi to inspect the progress made in the attempt to put out the fires.

Meanwhile, Malaysia is reportedly planning to send a Bombardier CL415MP aircraft to Indonesia to assist in putting out the fires that have spewed thick smoke blown by the winds to that neighboring country, including Singapore.

Malaysian Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein stated that the aircraft would be sent in response to the request for help put forth by President Jokowi to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

"The president of Indonesia has sought assistance from the prime minister to put out forest fires in South Sumatra," Hishammuddin was quoted as saying.

"I have spoken to my Indonesian counterpart Ryamizard Ryacudu," he said, adding that the aircraft could put out fires in wide areas.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR/O001)

Foreign teams commence operations to extinguish fires
Antara 12 Oct 15;

Palembang, South Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Teams from foreign countries began operations to extinguish the fires in South Sumatra.

"Today, teams from Singapore and Malaysia along with South Sumatras Forest and Land Fires Prevention Task Force have begun aerial and land operations to extinguish the fires in Ogan Komering Ilir and Musi Banyuasin District," South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin stated here, Monday.

According to Noerdin, his team will take maximum efforts to get rid of the smog, which since the end of August 2015 until now, continues to hinder public activities and affect the health of residents.

With human resources and equipment along with assistance from other countries, he is optimistic that the land fires can be ably overcome. The smog will also disappear as soon as possible, he added.

To overcome the smog disaster, the local government has since September 2015 deployed 4,997 personnel from the Provincial Agency for Disaster Management (BPBD), Manggala Agni, and Indonesian Armed/Police Forces, among others.

They were part of a task force who were assigned the role of reducing land and forest fires in South Sumatra.

"In the last two months, the task force had extinguished 1,259 hotspots and conducted 6,826 water bombing operations," he stated.

In addition, his officials will deploy additional equipment to put out land and forest fires.

This is part of the anticipatory measures undertaken to face the next dry season, so that smog problems can be minimized, or even overcome.

"The next steps will include adding more than 40 water pumps and normalizing the flow of water in peatlands or areas prone to land and forest fires," the governor explained.(*)


Indonesia lauds Malaysia for assistance in handling forest fires
Antara 12 Oct 15;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian government through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, Retno LP Marsudi, has praised Malaysia for its assistance in handling forest and land fires in several regions across Sumatra and Kalimantan.

"The Foreign Minister has appreciated the efforts made by the Malaysian government to tackle forest and land fires in Indonesia. The Malaysian government sent the Bombardier CL 415 MP aircraft to help put out the fires," according to a press release received here on Monday.

Indonesias Foreign Minister conveyed her countrys appreciation during her meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Anifah Aman at the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday (October 10).

The meeting was intended to boost bilateral cooperation in various fields and to prepare for the annual consultation meeting between the Indonesian President and the Prime Minister of Malaysia, scheduled for early 2016.

At the meeting, the Indonesian Foreign Minister stressed the seriousness with which Indonesia has been taking steps to extinguish land and forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Indonesia has optimized the use of national assets to address land and forest fires in the two regions.

According to the minister, firm legal action will be taken against parties found responsible for these fires.

Earlier, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo had said the government of Indonesia would welcome any foreign offer to help in battling the forest fires in the country which have caused great inconvenience in the form of thick clouds of haze, including in the neighboring countries.

"The government would welcome any offer from neighboring countries wanting to help," the minister said here on Thursday.

He expressed disappointment over criticism from some neighboring countries which blamed Indonesia for the smoke from forest fires in Sumatra or Kalimantan, blown by strong winds.

"Please do not put the blame entirely on our sovereign country. If they honestly want to help, let them please do so," he said.

Tjahjo Kumolo said the government has done whatever it could do and has taken firm measures against suspects responsible for the fire tragedy.

He said a number of oil palm plantation companies have been charged with causing these fires and some of them are owned by investors from the neighboring countries.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) is currently visiting Jambi to inspect the progress made in firefighting efforts.
(Uu.A063/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)


OKI gets priority in combating forest fires: Senior minister
Antara 12 oct 15;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district in South Sumatra Province has been accorded priority in efforts to put out land and forest fires as it had become the biggest source of haze, compared to other districts in Indonesia.

"Visibility in OKI is only about 100 meters. It still remains the worst hit by haze, based on data we have received," Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan told the press here on Monday.

Luhut said after observing the burnt areas in OKI, he found that the district was the worst region to have been hit by forest and land fires.

"After these were extinguished, the fires came back due to the winds blowing since the land there is covered by peat, which is very inflammable," the Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister said.

He said efforts to put out the fires through water bombing were also postponed due to low visibility of only 100 meters.

"It was also very difficult to induce artificial rain there because the air was foggy and the clouds were still inadequate. We are still waiting for the arrival of a Hercules aircraft which would help support the efforts to produce man-made rain," he said.

The chief security minister also underscored that all related parties have been coordinating well.

Among those who attended the press conference were Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Health Minister Nila Moeloek and Deputy Chairman of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Tri Budiarto.(*)

Indonesia's costly haze problem
Karishma Vaswani BBC News 12 Oct 15;

Flights cancelled, agricultural land destroyed and hundreds of thousands of people around the region suffering from respiratory illnesses.
This is something that has happened pretty much every year - for the last 18 years.

Indonesia's forest fires and the resulting haze have caused havoc and headlines across Asia, which has put the government there under pressure to put the fires out.

That might explain why Indonesian police are on a roll. On Monday they've named another 12 companies as suspects in starting the forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

But while Indonesia's police chief Badrodin Haiti was unwilling to tell the BBC who the companies are, he was happy to stress that two of them are from Malaysia and China and that another one under investigation is from Singapore.

Pointing the finger outside of Indonesia can be useful especially at a time when the government there is under pressure to show that's it's serious about stopping the haze.

In an exclusive interview with me last month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that the haze was a problem that would take a long time to solve.

He said that it might take as long as three years before it was completely under control.

Since then he's changed his tune and has accepted regional assistance after weeks of refusing the offers from his counterparts in Malaysia, Singapore and Australia.

The police's announcements that they're clamping down on companies responsible will also no doubt be seen as a sign that Indonesia is trying to be a responsible neighbour.

But environmental activists say that although these companies have been charged with breaking several laws - including Indonesia's environmental law, which carries a prison sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of $8m - none of that makes a difference unless authorities actually start enforcing the law.

Yuyun Indradi, a political forest campaigner with Greenpeace based in Jakarta told me that out of the 40 or so companies that have been named as suspects for starting the fires so far only one case has ever been brought to court.

He added that if Indonesia really wants to stop the forest fires, it must revoke the permits of companies found guilty.

This is a problem that affects Indonesia every year. But scientists say this year is shaping up to be the worst on record since 1997.

The last time this part of Asia was hit by a major haze crisis it cost the region an estimated $9bn due to losses from cancelled flights, agricultural damage, tourism and healthcare costs.

This time, some economists estimate it could cost the region more than twice that.


Task force needs about 10 days to douse Sumatra fire: Minister
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja AsiaOne 13 Oct 15;

Singapore military and civil defence personnel walking towards a Republic of Singapore Air Force Chinook helicopter at a haze-shrouded airbase in Palembang on Sumatra island yesterday.

Photo: AFP

The multinational task force helping Indonesia to put out fires in South Sumatra has met with some success, but it will take about 10 days before the flames can be largely extinguished, said a minister.

"We will not be able to completely contain the fires unless we have three to four days of heavy rain," said Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan at a briefing on the haze crisis yesterday.

He was alluding to the extended dry weather, exacerbated by a longer El Nino season this year, which has made it harder to completely douse the fires on peatlands starved of rain.

Besides the dry season, the smoke from forest fires has reduced visibility in the skies, limiting the number of sorties for water-bombing or cloud-seeding operations.

Indonesia this week opened up its skies to groups from Singapore, Malaysia, Russia, China and Australia for multilateral firefighting operations focused on South Sumatra's Ogan Komering Ilir and Musi Banyuasin regencies. These are among the worst hit by the fires this year.

The Indonesian authorities have also ramped up enforcement efforts - against not just individuals, but also corporate bigwigs linked to illegal forest fires causing the haze.

National police chief Badrodin Haiti said that of the 48 plantation companies being investigated for illegal forest fires, 12 have been declared suspects.

These firms, run by Indonesians or owned by investors from Malaysia and China, are in addition to as many as 209 individual suspects not officially linked to any firms.

The 12 companies face fines of between 3 billion rupiah (S$300,000) and 10 billion rupiah, and their boards of directors may be jailed for up to 10 years if found guilty, said General Badrodin yesterday at the same briefing in Jakarta.

This move comes after Indonesian President Joko Widodo gave the police the unprecedented order of tracking down owners of firms suspected of being involved in starting the fires.

Meanwhile, the majority of the multilateral firefighting resources have been deployed in South Sumatra, where conditions had worsened in recent weeks, said Indonesia's disaster management agency, BNPB.

"This morning, the conditions were still very bad in Ogan Komering Ilir, the main operations zone," said Mr Luhut, who has of late taken the lead in resolving this latest haze crisis. "The severity of the burning was very high."

The number of hot spots as of yesterday morning fell only slightly compared with the day before, he said. This has reduced visibility in Ogan Komering Ilir to about 100m.

Operations by the multinational groups deployed to fight fires in South Sumatra began on Sunday.

A Republic of Singapore Air Force CH-47D Chinook helicopter hauling a 5,000-litre heli-bucket arrived in Palembang at the weekend and operated alongside a Bombardier CL415 water bomber from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. These aircraft joined two water bombers from Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry and six choppers from the BNPB.

More reinforcements are expected to arrive, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi. They include an L-100 Hercules water bomber from Australia, which will arrive today, and two Beriev Be-200 water bombers from Russia, said Ms Retno.

She added that Japan will soon send chemistry experts who are expected to help Indonesia enhance additives to boost the water-bombing operations.