Indonesia: Pontianak urges school closure for smog

Severianus Endi The Jakarta Post 20 Aug 18;

Pontianak authorities have ordered temporarily school closures, as thick smog from forest fires has worsened in the city.

Pontianak Mayor Sutarmidji announced the school closure on Sunday via his Facebook account.

“I have instructed PAUD [early childhood education centers], kindergarten and elementary schools to close and resume operations on Aug 27. As for junior high schools, students can go back to school on Friday,” he wrote.

The closure applies to all schools that are under regional government supervision.

Meanwhile, the West Kalimantan Education and Culture Agency has issued a circular that calls on senior high schools to close from Monday to Thursday in Pontianak and Kubu Raya regency, which are affected by the smog.

The agency stated that the closure might be extended, depending on the smog.

National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said that hot spots detected in West Kalimantan had declined to 526 by 8:22 a.m. local time on Monday. On the morning of Aug. 16, the BNPB had recorded 1,061 hot spots across the province.

Six helicopters have been deployed to combat the forest fires in the province, which resulted from employing slash and burn to clear agricultural land. (sau/swd)

Apindo: Forest Fire Disrupts Economic Activity in West Kalimantan
TEMPO 20 Aug 18;

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chairman of the Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association (Apindo) Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Andreas Acui Simanjaya said the haze caused by forest fire was very disruptive to economic activity.

“The haze due to forest and land fires (Karhutla) is currently very alarming. This condition disrupts the economic activity in West Kalimantan,” Andreas said in Pontianak, Monday, August 20.

Andreas explained that the disrupted activities were the production continuity, the distribution process of raw material transportation to the industry and vice versa.

“The distribution process is certainly disrupted by the haze. If there is a delay, then the price will be higher to consumers, and the quality of raw materials will decrease,” he said.

According to him, if the haze gets worse, the flight activities could be eliminated. That way, the mobility of people and goods by airplane will stop.

“With that, our region will suffer a big loss. Business activities and people’s mobility to West Kalimantan or vice versa will be disrupted,” Andreas said.

A greater impact, Andreas said, the Indonesian competitor had a reason to campaign to boycott Indonesian production that was considered environmentally unfriendly.

“As known, some (countries) of Europe carry out strict policies for the production of CPO derivatives from Indonesia, which are considered the products produced by processes that are not environmentally friendly. For consumers in certain countries, the environmental issue is now an important part in making a decision to buy a product, “ Andreas said.

Previously, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) noted there were 94 hotspots scattered in several districts/cities in West Kalimantan on Wednesday, August 15, due to forest fire.

ANTARA