Voting on the squeeze for space

Corrie Tan, The Straits Times AsiaOne 23 Sep 15;

Local theatre group Drama Box presented three productions at this year's Singapore International Festival of Arts that could stand as individual pieces.

The three were a free interactive performance in the heartland (The Lesson), a physical theatre piece set against a lush green landscape (The Cemetery: Dawn), and a riveting work of testimonial theatre in a black box (The Cemetery: Dusk), each thought- provoking in its own way.

However, as interlocking parts of a whole, the It Won't Be Too Long trilogy transforms into a powerful and moving commentary on how space is disputed - and ignored - in Singapore, in the words and gestures of its people. It is a fitting conclusion to an arts festival that has taken well-calculated risks with its commissioned work and scored some excellent productions along the way.

It Won't Be Too Long brought together three different spaces: Toa Payoh Central is a public space, the School of the Arts Studio Theatre is private and Bukit Brown Cemetery is a problematic mix of both. In each space, the audience is confronted with overlapping issues of the contestation of space in Singapore, an island often described as "land-scarce" and assumed to value "progress" and urban redevelopment over wildness and history.

The Lesson, which took place in a large inflatable theatre in Toa Payoh, challenged audience members to reach a consensus on which public locale ought to be demolished to make way for a new (fictitious) MRT station, including a columbarium, an historic cinema, rental flats, a wet market and a marsh. Audience members were required to vote and the show happened to take place in the run up to Polling Day on Sept 11 by sheer but serendipitous coincidence.

Essentially, the task was impossible. Even if audience members did reach a consensus (to prevent the situation from falling into the hands of "the relevant authorities"), it was done with great gnashing of teeth. Each space on the chopping block had its own unique and irreplaceable attributes and the facilitators drew out passionate discussions from audience members and passers-by who suddenly had a stake in shaping their physical landscape.

I had initially shelved The Lesson in a different compartment of my mind when I attended Dawn at Bukit Brown Cemetery in the wee hours of the morning last Saturday. On its own, this six-person movement piece (which is revisited with much better context in Dusk) does not quite go beyond heavy-handed symbolism about death and departure - including one instance where a pickup truck drives through the performance area as a rather obvious nod to the disruptive construction of the highway.

But it was the act of waking up at 4am to get to the cemetery at 5.30am, of walking to the candle-lit performance area under the cover of darkness while one is hemmed in by silent, desolate construction sites, of seeing and hearing morning crack open over the gorgeous green environs - Dawn is absolutely crucial in place-setting for Dusk, where the morning's events, as well as The Lesson, gain a much richer context.

It is Dusk that ties all three parts together in a difficult open-ended question to the audience: What next? Director Kok Heng Leun and playwright Jean Tay have meticulously gathered a multitude of voices from real-life interviews, press conferences, press statements and newspaper reports to portray the life and death of Bukit Brown Cemetery, from the early stirrings of civic activism in 2011 - when it was first announced that a large highway would be constructed and cut through the municipal cemetery - to the death knell several years later.

Dusk fleshes out the painful tussle between civil society groups and the authorities, including then-Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin, and key figures such as Ms Jennifer Teo from SOS Bukit Brown and Dr Chua Ai Lin, president of the Singapore Heritage Society.

These personalities are all brought to vivid life by the capable trio of Timothy Nga, Karen Tan and Jo Tan, who play all the characters - from a straight-talking tombkeeper to the diverse group of nature lovers, volunteers and activists, as well as those whose ancestors were buried in Bukit Brown and had to move.

The interviews are as sharp and punchy as they are frustrating and sad. While Bukit Brown is at the core of the narrative, the various anecdotes shade in a larger picture of historical amnesia, indifference and the relentless machinery of Singapore's tight urban planning. Can preservation and progress exist on the same plane in Singapore or will they always be at heartbreaking odds?

Drama Box's thoroughly researched performances invert the power structure such that the audience (standing in for the public at large) is ultimately the one with the most agency and choice.

Bukit Brown proves that civil society groups can lobby the authorities successfully only when they have strong public backing.

But what is the public doing with this power? What kind of Singapore will they shape - one where emotion and the various "intangibles" of history, culture and heritage are eroded by pragmatism and the thrust of progress? Or a Singapore that genuinely values various perspectives?

These wonderful productions by Drama Box are a timely reminder that it certainly won't be too long before Singapore evolves - and hopefully, it won't be too late to make a difference.

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Singapore issues stop work order on fire-hit Bukom refinery unit

Reuters 23 Sep 15;

Singapore has issued a stop work order on a fire-hit unit at Royal Dutch Shell's 500,000 barrels per day refinery on Pulau Bukom island off the city-state, Shell said on Wednesday.

"A stop work order concerning the affected unit was issued by the Ministry of Manpower on Aug. 25," a Shell spokeswoman said.

A stop work order is usually issued in cases where severe lapses in safety and health conditions cause immediate danger to the people at work.

A fire broke out on Aug. 21 at a section of an unidentified unit undergoing maintenance at the Pulau Bukom Manufacturing site, Shell's largest wholly owned plant. Six contractor workers suffered burns and were hospitalised.

The refiner stopped all work in units undergoing scheduled maintenance and eventually stopped all non-essential activities across the site, the spokeswoman said.

"All other units at the Pulau Bukom Manufacturing Site continue to operate normally and there is no expected disruption to our planned production rates," she said.

Two of six contract workers remained in the intensive care unit as of late August, while the other four had been discharged, the spokeswoman added, declining to give the latest update on the condition of the workers.

Investigations into the cause of the fire were ongoing.

Shell declined to give further details on how long the unit will be shut for or how much supply will be affected.

But traders said Shell was in the spot market on Tuesday looking for an early-October loading gasoil cargo at a higher than market price.

It was unclear whether the requirement for a cargo was related to the loss of production at the refinery.

In May, Reuters reported that Shell was planning to shut Bukom's largest 210,000 bpd crude unit and a diesel-producing hydrocracker unit for one to two months in the third quarter for planned maintenance.

The refinery suffered production losses in September 2011 due to a fire that forced the company to shut down a crude unit and a fluid catalytic cracker.

(Reporting by Jessica Jaganathan;Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

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Malaysia: Sarawakians trying their best to cope with haze

The Star 24 Sep 15;

KUCHING: With little improvement after a month, many Sarawakians are just trying their best to weather the haze problem.

Layang Layang Aerospace, which operates Sarawak’s flying doctor service, has seen its Kuching helicopter grounded for most of the se­cond half of this month.

“It’s just so bad and unfortunate. Our helicopters should not fly when visibility is under 3km. We need ground visuals, not to mention visuals of electricity poles and all sorts,” said ope­rations manager Captain Irwin Menezes, who is also chief pilot.

The company’s helicopters are based in the state capital, Sibu and Miri. So far, the Sibu and Miri teams have not been affected.

The flying doctor serves rural Sarawak where there is no road access, visiting up to 100 settlements each month.

“Everyone in the aviation industry is affected, including commercial flights. Our wor­kers have caught the flu although no one has taken leave. As advised, we drink lots of water to get through the haze,” added Menezes.

Meanwhile, hotel corporate communications executive Ng Ai Fern is worried about her six-month-old’s health ever since the haze started last month.

“What do you do when the air is this bad? He has been coughing a little bit. He is too young to be taking medicine.

“People say drink lots of water but my baby is only six months old. He can’t drink that much water and he can’t tell us how he feels,” she said.

Since last week, Ng and her husband have kept their son indoors as much as possible. Except for trips to the nanny during the day – as both parents work – they do not expose him to the outdoors.

“You constantly feel he is at risk. He stays indoors with the air-conditioner on all day long, but then again, too much air-cond is not good,” she added.

Visibility in Kuching yesterday afternoon was 800m.

State health director Datuk Dr Zulkifli Jan­tan said there had been an increase of 30% in outpatient cases related to the haze since last week.

“In this situation it is normal to have more patients. However, there has not been any significant increase in hospital admissions,” he said.

Several areas in Sarawak continued to experience unhealthy air quality yesterday, with Samarahan recording the highest Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of 191 at 9am before dropping to 167 at 3pm.

The API was 150 in Kuching and 127 in Sri Aman at 3pm while Sarikei recorded 101 briefly before going down to 100.


Sarawak: Haze Back, Disrupts 7 Flights To And From KIA
Bernama 22 Sep 15;

KUCHING, Sept 22 (BERNAMA) -- The haze returned Tuesday, and by noon the Kuching Division had registered an Air Pollutant Index (API) of 96, from 76 as of 8am.

Kuching International Airport (KIA) senior manager Mohd Nadzim Hashim said by noon, seven flights involving 668 passengers were affected.

He said the flights comprised two departures with 448 passengers and five arrivals involving 220, adding that those affected were on Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia flights between Sibu and Kuching, and Bintulu and Kuching.

"The visibility distance at KIA was at 800 metres this morning before improving to 900 by noon.

"All passengers on flights using the KIA are advised to check their flying schedules with the respective flight companies before going to the airport for any possible disruption," he said when contacted by Bernama.

Meanwhile, according to the department of environment, the API for Sri Aman was at an unhealthy 116, which was the highest in the state as of noon.

It was followed by Kuching with a moderate 96, Samarahan (90), Sarikei (85) and Sibu (74).

-- BERNAMA

Be wary of fake portal with false haze info: DOE
ADIB POVERA New Straits Times 23 Sep 15;

KUCHING: A fake portal has been identified for spreading false and misleading information on the haze situation in Sarawak, Department of Environment said.

In a statement today, the department said information on haze provided by the portal ( www.yangshitianqi.com/Kuching/kongqizhiliang.html) was false and had created panic among the people in the state.

“The department is serious about an act by certain quarters spreading false information on haze in the state, which had created panic among the people in Sarawak.

“For the official and latest Air Pollutant Index readings, please visit the department’s link for haze on our website at http://apims.doe.gov.my/v2/ or download the MyIPU application for smartphones via ‘Google Play’ (for Android users) or App Store (for iOS users).”

Read More : http://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/be-wary-fake-portal-false-haze-info-doe

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Malaysia, Penang: ‘Worst floods in living memory’

ROYCE TAN The Star 23 Sep 15;

GEORGE TOWN: Residents in Kampung Binjai in Bayan Lepas have been left reeling from the worst floods that they can remember.

Building manager Mat Pozian Rashid, 48, said the first thing that crossed his mind when he saw his house inundated was to carry his diabetic father Rashid Saidin, 83, to safety.

“It was still raining heavily when I woke up at about 7am.

“I then carried my father to the couch as the waters were rising very fast.

“My carpet, furniture and my laptop have been damaged.

“My priority was to get my father to higher ground to make sure he remained safe. His toes were amputated two years ago, and he can’t walk,” he said.

Mat Pozian said he had to take the day off to help his family clean the house.

Several nearby places like Bayan Baru, Teluk Kumbar and Bayan Lepas were also badly affected yesterday.

Many workers were reportedly late for work as they faced traffic snarls along the flooded and slippery roads.

Civil servant Lee Boon Heng, who lives in Bayan Baru, was also stranded as he tried to reach his workplace.

“The jam was worse along Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah heading towards the Bayan Lepas Industrial Zone.”

Office worker BT Lim, who stays in Jalan Khaw Sim Bee, said the area was flood prone.

“After a 30-minute downpour, the drains would become blocked and as a result, the water would flow onto the road,” he said.

Flood Mitigation Committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said peninsular Malaysia was in the south-west monsoon phase and was expected to receive rainfall of between 100mm to 200mm in September and October.

“Based on the Drainage and Irrigation Department’s records, rainfall was heavy between 8am and 11am,” he said in a statement.

A rainfall of 68mm was recorded in Sungai Pinang, 52mm in Kolam Sungai Dondang and 68mm in Lorong Batu Lanchang.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department has forecast isolated showers in the morning today and fair weather for the whole of tomorrow.

Floods and mudslide hit Penang
ROYCE TAN The Star 24 Sep 15;

GEORGE TOWN: An early morning downpour caused flash floods in many parts of the town here, leading to traffic snarls at low-lying areas like Jalan Khaw Sim Bee, Jalan Westland, Jalan P. Ramlee, Jalan Logan, Jalan Anson, Jalan Transfer and Jalan Hutton.

However, the worst-hit areas were away from the town centre, with a deluge of mud and sand hitting Jalan Paya Terubong heading towards Balik Pulau.

There was also a bumper-to-bumper crawl after an uprooted tree blocked a good part of the road.

Traffic police were deployed to the scene to control the traffic flow until the tree was removed.

Resident Y.S. Chai, 42, who lives in a terrace house in Jalan Paya Terubong, said the flash flood was one of the worst that had ever occurred as it washed mud and soil down to the road and into the house compounds.

She said the heavy rain lasted for only about 30 minutes but muddy waters rose very quickly and rushed onto the front porch of her house.

“I have never encountered a flood this bad before. It took us around three hours to clean everything up,” she said.

Further down the road, a gloomy Pon Kah Tong sprayed water from a hose to clear the mud that had accumulated in his car service workshop.

Paya Terubong is an area that has seen rapid development in recent years.

The floods subsided before noon.

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Indonesia's President: Law enforcement imposed on individuals, companies causing forest fires

Antara 23 Sep 15;

Banjarbaru, S Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo affirmed that the law will be imposed equally on individuals and companies found guilty of causing or being involved in forest and land fires.

"Everybody is equal before the law," the head of state remarked during a visit to an area affected by a hotspot in Guntung Damar Village in the South Kalimantan city of Banjanbaru on Wednesday.

He noted that forest and land fires in certain parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan Island have caused losses worth trillions of rupiah.

Therefore, the president revealed that he had ordered Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar to revoke the principle business licenses of all companies found guilty of causing forest and land fires.

The haze from forest and land fires over the past weeks has triggered health problems among the people living in disaster zones and has also disrupted commercial flight operations in several main cities, including at the Kuala Namu International Airport in North Sumatra.

President Widodo said he will continue to monitor forest and land fires affecting the two main islands and has urged the military, police, and local governments to work together to extinguish them.

They also need to conduct a sustainable public awareness campaign program to educate the locals to stop using the slash and burn method to clear land, he remarked.

"Solid collaboration is needed as extinguishing forest and land fires, which have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares of land, is not easy. Therefore, all-out efforts are needed," he noted.

Meanwhile, Chief of the Antasari district military command Colonel Muhammad Abduh Ras stated that stringent law enforcement measures have been imposed on those allegedly involved in forest and land fires.

A total of 142 people have been questioned, and six have been declared as suspects, he said, adding that seven companies in South Kalimantan were also allegedly responsible for the forest and land fires.

In South Kalimantan, 1,538 hotspots have been detected, of which 1,460 have been put out. Thus, there are still 70 hotspots on the ground, he noted.

A CN295 aircraft, three Casa 212 light aircraft, and 17 helicopters were deployed to extinguish the remaining hotspots that indicate the presence of wildfires.(*)

President lauds parties involved in fire fighting efforts
Antara 23 Sep 15;

Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) praised all parties involved in the efforts to fight forest and land fires in several provinces in the country.

"We highly laud all parties that have taken part in the efforts to fight land fires," he stated here on Wednesday.

President Jokowi visited Banjarbaru and personally inspected the fire situation in Guntung Damar in the village of Guntung Payung, Landasan Ulin.

The hard work put in by the provincial and district governments as well as personnel from the military (TNI)/police was a concrete action taken to overcome the fires, the president remarked.

In view of this, their hard work must be lauded, and it is hoped that the fires could be overcome and would not occur in future, he emphasized.

"Every day, I monitor the firefighting efforts and see that all have worked hard, and the results are visible by a decline in the number of fires," he pointed out.

"Not only hundreds but tens of thousands of hectares of land across Indonesia has been burnt down, and so, all parties must work together to help overcome them," Jokowi remarked

Fires in the past month in the country have led to haze, which has disrupted activities of the people and also flights and flight schedules.

President Jokowi was accompanied by First Lady Iriana, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar, Education Minister Baswedan, TNI Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo, and Head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency Willem Rampangilei.

Widodo Heads to Borneo to Check Fire Fighting as Haze Hazardous
Fitri Wulandari Herdaru Purnomo Bloomberg 23 Sep 15;

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is heading to Borneo and Sumatra islands to check on efforts to stop forest blazes that are causing pollution across the region.

Widodo, who has set a deadline of two weeks to a month to stop the burning, will speak to fire fighters in southern Kalimantan on Borneo on Wednesday and then head to Sumatra for two days, his office said in a statement. A pollution gauge in Pontianak in Kalimantan worsened to 779.4 on Wednesday, double the level considered hazardous, while in Singapore a three-hour index was up to an unhealthy level of 116 as of 11 a.m.

Widodo, known as Jokowi, is facing regional pressure to step up efforts to combat perennial forest burning by cracking down on companies with fires on their concessions. The government on Tuesday said it suspended the permits for three Indonesian palm oil planters and revoked the permit for a forestry company.

“There are 14 companies that are being investigated by police,” said Fadrizal Labay, the head of forestry and plantations for Sumatra’s Riau islands, near Singapore. “There will be a possibility of criminal and administrative action.”

PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo, one of the palm companies named by the government and majority-owned by PT Provident Agro, said on Tuesday it was not responsible for causing any fires and will cooperate with the authorities.

Indonesia’s enforcement of its laws against plantation owners is key to resolving the haze, Singapore’s Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday. The smog has led the city-state to cancel outdoor events and flights have been stopped across the region.

Responsibility for the blazes, which also emit greenhouse gases from burning peatlands, is complicated by uncertainty over land rights and overlapping permits in a country with widespread official corruption.

Widodo checks up on efforts to tackle forest blazes in Borneo
Today Online 23 Sep 15;

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is heading to Borneo and Sumatra islands to check on efforts to stop forest blazes that are causing pollution across the region.

Mr Widodo’s visit comes as his administration faces regional pressure to step up efforts to combat perennial forest burning by cracking down on companies with fires on their concessions. The government yesterday (Sept 22) said it had suspended the permits of three Indonesian palm oil planters, and revoked the permit of a forestry company.

“There are 14 companies that are being investigated by police,” said Mr Fadrizal Labay, the head of forestry and plantations for Sumatra’s Riau islands. “There will be a possibility of criminal and administrative action.”

Mr Widodo, who has set a deadline of two weeks to a month to stop the burning, was slated to speak to fire fighters in southern Kalimantan on Borneo today before heading to Sumatra for two days, his office said in a statement. A pollution gauge in Pontianak in Kalimantan worsened to 779.4 today, double the level considered hazardous.

PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo, one of the palm companies named by the government and majority-owned by PT Provident Agro, said on Tuesday it was not responsible for causing any fires and will cooperate with the authorities.

The head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) backed the country’s palm oil producers, saying producers stand to lose from deliberately lighting forest fires and abide by a “zero burning” policy.

“(Members of Gapki) have implemented sustainability principles,” Mr Joko Supriyono, head of Gapki, told Antara news agency yesterday.

Producers face heavy sanctions and risk having their permits revoked if found to be clearing land through fire, Mr Joko said. Buyers of palm oil products also demand eco-friendly practices.

“It is impossible for companies that have invested trillions of rupiahs to take the risk of having their permits revoked just because they want to save the cost of land clearing,” he said.

Indonesia’s enforcement of its laws against plantation owners is key to resolving the haze issue, Singapore’s Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday.

The smog has led the city-state to cancel outdoor events, and flights have been affected across the region.

Responsibility for the blazes, which also emit greenhouse gases from burning peatland, is complicated by uncertainty over land rights and overlapping permits in a country with widespread official corruption. AGENCIES


Haze set to last till November as El Nino stretches dry spell
Indonesia's disaster management agency says it will need more soldiers and more funds to battle the forest fires
Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja Indonesia Correspondent In Jakarta Straits Times 24 Sep 15; and AsiaOne

The haze, a result of forest fires in parts of Indonesia, is set to remain until November, due in part to the dry spell caused by the El Nino effect said to be among the strongest since records were kept in 1950.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) said that it will need not only more boots on the ground to fight the fires, but also more money to deal with the crisis.

"The number of forest and land fires still has the potential to rise until end-November," said BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho during a press briefing yesterday.

"As a result, BNPB may use up all 385 billion rupiah (S$38.5 million) in government funding earmarked to deal with the fires by end-September and it will have to turn to a 2.5 trillion rupiah 'on-call fund' set aside for other types of disasters."

The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) in the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya fluctuated from as high as 1,992 at 6am yesterday, to 1,096 later in the afternoon.

Other places fared better, but only slightly. Palembang in South Sumatra went from a high of 758 at 5am to 180 at 2pm yesterday.

Any PSI reading over 350 is rated as hazardous; while the range of 151 to 250 is considered unhealthy.

"Now, Central and West Kalimantan are seeing the worst (in air pollution)," said Mr Sutopo. "Merauke in Papua has also been burning."

Indonesia has struggled to control the spread of forest fires that caused the smouldering haze, which has affected the lives of millions of people across Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in recent weeks.

There are now about 4,800 soldiers and policemen fighting fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but the BNPB says it wants an additional 600 troops to help.

President Joko Widodo yesterday visited emergency workers deployed to help fight the fires in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan, before heading to Sumatra, where he will be spending two days inspecting ground conditions and fire-fighting efforts in Jambi, as well as visiting evacuees from the Mount Sinabung volcano eruption. The volcano in North Sumatra last erupted earlier this month.

His men, however, face a tall order, with climate experts warning that the extreme dry weather from the El Nino phenomenon will continue to cause peatlands to burn more readily.

El Nino typically lasts nine months but weather experts say the forecast this year indicates that it is set to peak only in November and could possibly last well into the first half of next year.

According to data from 2006 to last year, hot spots typically appear between June and October, but the prevailing dry weather means they may continue to burn until November, said Mr Sutopo. "The number of hot spots rose again, including fires in South Sumatra... that were previously doused but have re-emerged," he said.

Border areas such as Jambi in South Sumatra - where fires occur in far-flung, hard-to-reach places - have also registered a spike in the number of hot spots, he added.

Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry on Tuesday said it suspended the operations of three plantation companies and revoked the business licence of a fourth over illegal land-clearing practices, which have led to forest fires and the haze in recent weeks. All are Indonesian-owned entities.

The ministry, which is planning to launch civil action against the companies, also said more are expected to be dealt with in the days ahead for breaching Indonesia's environmental laws.

Fire in Unhas education forest escalates
Andi Hajramurni and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post 23 Sep 15;

While forest and land fires in other areas have finally decreased with rainfall in some regions, a fire that has ravaged the educational forest of Hasanuddin University (Unhas) in Makasssar, South Sulawesi, continues to grow.

As of Tuesday the fire was reported to have burned up to 40 hectares of forest in Bengo village, Kimapoccoe subdistrict, Maros regency, close to the protected forest in Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park.

The fire, which began in three spots in the pine forest, was first detected on Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time.

Maros Forestry Agency head Muhammad Nurdin said that fires in some areas on the eastern side of the range had been extinguished, but the ones on the western side had expanded and almost reached the protected forest.

“Due to strong winds the fire has expanded rapidly,” Nurdin said on Tuesday.

He said efforts to extinguish the fire were being conducted by personnel from the local military, police, forestry agency, Maros Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), Bantimurung-Bulusaraung National Park and Unhas students.

Maros BPBD head Suyuti and dean of Unhas’ School of Forestry, Yusran both said that trees in the forest were dry due to the long dry season, making them burn easier.

Meanwhile in North Sumatra, the haze that has blanketed the province has reportedly begun to subside as the number of hot spots in neighboring Pekanbaru, Riau, also decreased due to rainfall.

Lestari Irene Purba of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) Medan office said that almost all regions in North Sumatra including Medan were now free of haze.

Lestari said the haze that blanketed North Sumatra had come from South Sumatra and Riau. As of Tuesday, only 37 hot spots were detected across Sumatra, of which 36 were in South Sumatra and the other in Pekanbaru, Riau.

Separately, in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, the city health agency reported over 3,500 cases of acute respiratory infection (ISPA) as of mid-September due to the haze.

“By the end of August we had 2,400 cases of ISPA and by mid September the figure increased drastically to 3,559 cases,” the agency head Balerina JPP said.

Balikpapan has been exposed to haze for the last four weeks, although it has not been as thick as in other cities in Kalimantan. Visibility in Sepinggan Airport, Balikpapan, was still over 10 kilometers.

N. Abdi contributed to this article from Balikpapan.

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Indonesia: Critically endangered Sumatran rhino pregnant again

Kerry Sheridan AFP Yahoo News 22 Sep 15;

Miami (AFP) - A rare Sumatran rhino in Indonesia is pregnant with her second baby and expected to give birth in May, raising new hope for the critically endangered species, conservationists said Tuesday.

Only about 100 Sumatran rhinos are believed to exist in the entire world so the pregnancy is seen as tremendously good news for those trying to save the animals from extinction.

The mother is Ratu, a wild rhino who wandered out of the rainforest and into the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Indonesia's Way Kambas National Park 10 years ago.

She got pregnant in January after mating with Andalas, a male rhino at the park, said Susie Ellis, director of the International Rhino Foundation.

Sumatran rhinos have very long pregnancies that last about 16 months, even though they are the smallest of the living rhino species.

"We just wanted to be sure it would take before we made an announcement because in early pregnancy any number of things can go wrong," Ellis told AFP.

Ratu's pregnancy was announced on World Rhino Day, which aims to raise awareness about the five remaining species of rhinos.

Sumatran rhinos are the only Asian rhinoceroses with two horns. They are covered in woolly hair that ranges from reddish brown to black in color.

While Javan rhinos are considered the world's rarest rhinos, Sumatran rhinos are under increasing threat by poachers and continue to lose precious forest habitat.

View gallerySuci (top), a female Sumatran rhino, and Harapan (below), …
Suci (top), a female Sumatran rhino, and Harapan (below), a male, pictured on July 23, 2013 (AFP Pho …
"One more rhino means one percent more animals. That is not a lot but it is certainly an upward trend," Ellis said.

- Conservation efforts -

Conservationists have been working on a new plan to save the Sumatran rhino, after the animals were recently declared extinct in Malaysia.

Wildlife experts say the rhinos need more intensive protection from poachers, and isolated animals should be moved into areas where other rhinos live, a complicated and costly endeavor that may involve airlifting the lumbering creatures by helicopter.

Ellis said plans are under way to raise money to expand the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary, built with foundation funds in 1996 and managed in cooperation with the Indonesian government and the Rhino Foundation of Indonesia.

That way, "other animals that are found out in the forest that are reproductively viable can be brought there to be part of the managed breeding program," Ellis said.

- Rare births -

Births of Sumatran rhinos in captivity are rare. Just four Sumatran rhinos have been born at breeding facilities, including the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary and Cincinnati Zoo.

Ratu's first baby, Andatu, was born at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in 2012, marking "the first Sumatran rhino born in an Asian breeding facility in more than 140 years," said a statement by Siti Urbana Bakar, the Indonesian Minister of Environment and Forestry.

The current pregnancy "represents nearly two decades of international collaboration to save the species," he added.

Andalas, the father of both Andatu and the expected calf, was born at Cincinnati Zoo. He was moved to Indonesia from Los Angeles Zoo in 2007.

The only remaining Sumatran rhino in the United States is Harapan, Andalas' younger brother.

He will be moved from Cincinnati Zoo to Indonesia later this year in an effort to boost the breeding population at the rhino sanctuary, which is currently home to five Sumatran rhinos.

Terri Roth, vice president of conservation at Cincinnati Zoo, said it is difficult to say goodbye, but it is the right thing to do for the rhino population.

"It is hard on the staff and there are a lot of people here in Cincinnati who have fallen in love" with Harapan and the other rhinos that used to live at the zoo, she told AFP.

Harapan's sister, Suci, died last year of an inherited disease, leaving him alone at the zoo.

As for Ratu, she has months to wait before giving birth to a calf that will likely weigh 50-60 pounds (23-27 kilograms).

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 23 Sep 15

30 Sep (Wed): Ballast Water Management and Marine Bio-Invasion
Green Drinks Singapore

Macro Photography Outings – August 2015
Bugs & Insects of Singapore

4 Steps to Create a Free Dashboard for Monitoring Your Green Business and News
Green Future Solutions

Who’s responsible for Indonesia’s fires?
Mongabay Environmental News

Many solutions to Southeast Asia’s haze problem proposed, but no end in sight
Mongabay Environmental News

Read more!

When the haze doesn't go away

Euston Quah, Tan Tsiat SiongTHE STRAITS TIMES AsiaOne 23 Sep 15;

Singapore has been shrouded in haze from the Indonesian forest fires in recent weeks. This transboundary pollution problem remains intractable despite seemingly increased efforts in recent years to mitigate it.

The region should not expect this problem - which has lasted for at least two decades - to be resolved any time soon.

The recent policy enacted by Singapore - to impose harsh fines on errant companies whose activities contribute to the transboundary haze - is likely to be futile. The reason is simple: The problem lies outside Singapore's jurisdiction and cannot be solved by us alone.

The Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, passed in Singapore's Parliament last year, will not have any impact on the transboundary haze if Singapore companies are the only ones hauled up to face the law, whereas non-Singapore firms contributing to the haze problem go scot-free.

Many also optimistically expect that Indonesia will take action against those responsible for illegal forest fires, but that is not going to happen fast enough for the haze to clear up soon.

In the meantime, what could be done? While international pressure on the culprits should continue, it is extremely important to work with stakeholders, which include not only the victim countries but also farmers and plantation owners in haze-originating countries, regional organisations (for example, ASEAN, Apec), global agencies (for example, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund) and other non-governmental organisations.

For Singapore, it is crucial that we accept that the haze will be with us for years to come, and learn to live with it while mitigation efforts are ongoing.

A COMPLEX PROBLEM

At the root of the problem is the cross-boundary nature of the haze pollution. It is difficult for any country to assert extra-territorial jurisdiction without infringing on the sovereignty of other nations.

For Indonesia, enacting land-use statutes or changing institutions to regulate forest burning can be tedious.

Nevertheless, the greater challenge lies in the enforcement of these laws.

As highlighted in an earlier Straits Times article ("Tough to pinpoint haze culprits"; Sept 15), the identification of errant culprits is no easy feat and the prosecution of perpetrators is also a long-drawn-out process.

Besides, Indonesia, as a developing country, has to carefully allocate its resources across other critical needs such as infrastructure development, education and subsidies to the poor.

The onsets of the forest fires are exacerbated by natural factors like the cyclical El Nino which prolongs the drought and intensifies the fires.

In fact, meteorologists predict that this year's El Nino will have one of the strongest effects since 1950. With Indonesia being home to the world's largest area of tropical peatland, dousing its forest fires is evidently a much harder task than it appears.

The peat can continue to burn for months even after surface fires have been put out.

ECONOMIC COSTS

The haze imposes significant costs on the region. Haze particles can cause eye and throat irritation and respiratory illnesses, that will entail more medical expenses and cause a loss in productivity.

Other sectors of the economy, such as tourism, retail and conferencing, will also be affected when tourists decide to skip the haze-affected countries. Indirect costs in the form of reduced visibility and cancellation of recreational activities are also significant.

Recent school closures in several states of Malaysia and Singapore's offer of fire-fighting assistance to Indonesia are other examples of consequential costs.

During the 1997 haze, an episode that lasted three months, a conservative estimate of the economic costs of the haze in Singapore (by Professor Euston Quah, one of the two authors of this piece) was US$163 million.

In 2013, the one-week haze period which saw the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reaching a record high of 401 led to estimated economic losses of US$50 million, a figure extrapolated from previous findings. In the future, the economic costs are likely to increase.

BOYCOTTS AND OTHER PROTEST EFFORTS

Commentators often suggest that consumers should boycott products made by plantations that use the slash-and-burn method to clear land.

This approach is hardly feasible, given that identifying plantations complicit in causing fires is difficult. A boycott will likely penalise many of the poor who are hired by the plantation owners.

Furthermore, palm oil products produced by these errant plantation owners may be used as intermediate goods to produce final foods. Final producers might be unfairly penalised in a product boycott.

One should note that the forest fires also contribute significantly to carbon emissions and hence global warming. In 1997, the carbon emissions from the three months of forest fires exceeded the annual carbon emissions of the whole of Europe.

It is also crucial to keep up the pressure on Indonesia to alleviate the haze problem, by mustering the collective influence of international and regional agencies.

There should be continual and systematic research in this part of the world on the damage caused by haze at the sectoral level.

Calculating these costs could help Singapore better negotiate with haze-originating countries and estimate the costs of aid to be given to Indonesia. It can also help the governments in Singapore and Indonesia to offer targeted assistance to the affected sectors.

Currently, the clear response of Singapore, which includes timely dissemination of information to the public, the Haze Subsidy Scheme, and the WeCare packs, is highly applaudable.

The Singapore Government can take an even more active role in advising people against outdoor activities.

It can consider imposing a mandatory shutdown of outdoor sports facilities when PSI levels reach the very unhealthy or hazardous levels. This could be accompanied by a compensation scheme for affected businesses.

The perennial haze problem requires a multi-faceted approach.

While protest efforts continue, it is important for now to give more thought to what Singapore could effectively do to mitigate the ill effects of the transboundary haze on the economy, our health and our everyday life.

Can the annual haze episode go away? With the adoption of the right strategies and measures, it might no longer be a regular occurrence in the long run.

For now, accept that the haze is here to stay, and come up with adaptation strategies to live with it.

Read more!

Indonesia investigating Singapore-owned company for forest fires; suspends 4 local firms

A Singapore-owned firm is under investigation for causing forest fires in Indonesia, where authorities have also ordered four Indonesian companies to suspend operations.
Channel NewsAsia 22 Sep 15;

JAKARTA: A Singapore-owned firm is under investigation for causing forest fires in Indonesia, an Indonesian environment ministry official said on Tuesday.

Thick smoke caused by forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan islands has blanketed the region in recent weeks, pushing pollution levels to unhealthy levels.

Over 200 plantation and forestry companies are being investigated, said Muhammad Yunus, director of criminal law at the environment ministry.

"That number can still go up," he said. Mr Yunus added a Singapore-owned company is among the companies being investigated, but did not elaborate.

INDONESIA ORDERS FOUR COMPANIES TO SUSPEND OPERATIONS

Indonesian authorities have taken action against four Indonesian companies in Sumatra whose lands were set ablaze resulting in smog.

PT Tempirai PAM Resources and PT Waringin Agro Jaya - oil palm plantation companies in South Sumatra - have had their permits revoked. They have been instructed to stop operations.

The other two companies are in Riau. The Environment and Forestry ministry suspended the operations of PT Hutani Solarestari and PT Riau Langgam Inti Hibrido - a logging company.

All four companies could face prosecution should the Indonesian authorities pursue criminal charges against them. So far 27 companies are being investigated for carrying out the slash and burn techniques in clearing their land, while 140 individuals are also being questioned.

Meanwhile rain has brought much respite to residents in Riau - one of the areas hardest hit by the haze. Indonesia's Disaster Mitigation agency said the air quality and visibility have improved along with the drastic drop in the number of hotspots. Some schools have began to re-open.

- CNA/Reuters/xq/rw

Government revokes permits of companies involved in forest fires
Antara 23 Sep 15;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Environment and Forestry Ministry has revoked the permits of three plantation companies proven guilty of setting fires to land and forest areas.

The three errant companies are PT Tempirai Palm Resources and PT Waringin Agro Jaya in South Sumatra province and PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo in Riau, Secretary General of the Environment and Forestry Ministry Bambang Hendroyono noted here on Tuesday.

In addition, the ministry has also revoked the permit of forest concession holder PT Hutani Sola Lestari in Riau province for being involved in forest fires.

"(The decision) to revoke the operational permits was reached during an overnight meeting to discuss the imposition of sanctions. The meeting was led by the environment and forestry minister," Hendroyono affirmed.

After their permits were revoked on Tuesday, the companies are banned from operating until the police have completed their criminal investigations, he remarked.

He claimed that the companies must return their allocated land areas, which caught fire, to the state within two months.

When questioned about the plantation areas that caught fire, he explained that the ministry will soon make an inventory of the land areas.

"We will restore the land as part of the governments responsibilities. Hopefully, next year, the land will not catch fire," he added.(*)

Indonesia starts legal action against companies linked to SE Asia haze
BERNADETTE CHRISTINA Reuters 22 Sep 15;

Indonesia has ordered four companies to suspend operations for allegedly causing forest fires that have sent thick smoke across a swathe of Southeast Asia, an environment ministry official said on Tuesday.

Indonesia has launched investigations against more than 200 companies as it scrambles to bring the fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands under control by the end of November, amid complaints from neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Previous government efforts to halt the seasonal slash-and-burn practices have failed to tackle the problem due to a lack of policy coordination and legal wrangling that can take years to resolve.

"These suspensions will be in effect until the criminal proceedings undertaken by the police are finished," environment ministry secretary general Bambang Hendroyono said.

Three palm oil plantation companies have had their permits frozen and one forestry company has had its licence revoked, he added. All the companies were Indonesian-owned.

Plantation company PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo (LIH), which is owned by small listed firm PT Provident Agro, was among the companies to have its permit frozen, Bambang Hendroyono said.

Provident Agro said in an email to Reuters that LIH had not received any notice of its operational license being suspended or revoked.

Director of criminal law at the environment ministry, Muhammad Yunus, said a Singapore-owned company was also under investigation, but declined to elaborate.

President Joko Widodo has ordered thousands of security personnel backed by helicopters to help fight the fires, and has threatened to revoke land permits from companies found responsible.

Haze has blanketed the region in recent weeks, pushing pollution levels to record highs in Singapore, Malaysia and northern Indonesia.

An air pollution index in Singapore rose into "unhealthy" territory on Tuesday, according to a government website.

Underscoring the difficulties for the Indonesian government, the Supreme Court this month upheld for the first time a 366 billion rupiah ($25.26 million) fine against PT Kallista Alam for illegally burning peatland, a case that took three years to be resolved.

Green groups say that the Indonesian government needs to put in place a longer-term plan to tackle the annual burning, and that a greater proportion of budgeted funds should be spent on prevention.

($1 = 14,490.0000 rupiah)

(Additional reporting by Michael Taylor, Fergus Jensen, and Eveline Danubrata and Rujun Shen in SINGAPORE; Writing by Randy Fabi; Editing by Stephen Coates and Christopher Cushing)

Palm Oil Producers Deny Role in Forest Fires, Cite ‘Zero-Burn’ Policy
Jakarta Globe 22 Sep 15;

Jakarta. The head of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association, or Gapki, on Tuesday came out in support of the country’s palm oil producers against allegations of causing the haze choking several regions, saying producers stand to lose from deliberately lighting forest fires and abide by a “zero burning” policy.

"[Members of Gapki] have implemented sustainability principles," Joko Supriyono, head of Gapki, said as quoted by Antara. He added that buyers of palm oil products demanded eco-friendly practices in the production and supply chain.

Producers face heavy sanctions and risk having their permits revoked if found to be clearing land through fire, Joko said.

"It is impossible for companies that have invested trillions of rupiahs to take the risk of having their permits revoked just because they want to save the cost of land clearing," he said.

Joko cited data from Global Forest Watch, which found that between January and the end of August this year, fires in oil palm concessions stood at 16 percent of all land, as opposed to 65 percent of non-concession land.

Separately, the secretary general of the Environment and Forestry Ministry, Bambang Hendroyono, told Antara that the ministry had frozen the operating permits of three companies linked to forest fires.

Tempirai Palm Resources and Waringin Agro Jaya in South Sumatra and Langgam Inti Hibrindo in Riau will have their permits frozen. The ministry also froze the permit of Hutani Sola Lestari in Riau province, which held a logging concession permit.

Bambang said that as of Tuesday the companies could not proceed with their operations until the police had completed an investigation into the fires.

Indonesia is currently in a state of emergency as thick haze from forest fires blankets several provinces in Sumatra and Kalimantan, stretching as far as Singapore and Malaysia and sending air pollution indexes to dangerous levels.


Govt revokes, suspends licenses of forest burners
Hans Nicholas Jong, The Jakarta Post 23 Sep 15;

The government has announced the revocation of permits for four firms whose concessions in Sumatra and Kalimantan have burned up recently, adding to the haze fire disaster that has engulfed the nation.

One of the firms, PT Hutani Sola Lestari (HSL), is alleged to have supplied timber to PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP), the country’s major pulp and paper producer. However, the pulp and paper giant has denied the allegation.

“RAPP has no connection whatsoever with HSL,” RAPP president director Tony Wenas said in a press statement on Tuesday.

According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) database, HSL is a subsidiary of Raja Garuda Emas, previously known as Raja Garuda Mas, a business group controlled by one of the country’s richest businessmen, Sukanto Tanoto. Sukanto also owns RAPP.

According to Environment and Forestry Ministry secretary-general Bambang Hendroyono, HSL obtained its concession for a 45,990-hectare plot of land in Riau in 1999. The permit was supposed to have been valid for 55 years, but it will now expire following the government’s recent decision to revoke the permit.

“After we revoke the permit, it means that all operations should be stopped and all financial obligations have to be carried out,” Bambang told a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Bambang said that the rights to manage the plot of land would be relegated to the government within 60 days.

Besides HSL, the government decided to suspend licenses for three palm oil companies; PT Tempirai Palm Resources and PT Waringin Agro Jaya, both in South Sumatra, and PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo in Riau.

“As of today, all operational activities of these companies are to be halted,” Bambang said, adding that the suspension would be effective until there were court verdicts on the cases.

The companies are also to be considered responsible for regenerating the burned land, with the ministry saying that it was currently taking samples from the burned land to estimate the environmental damage as well as the cost to repair it.

The four firms are the first few companies on a long list of 286 companies that the government is targeting for allegedly causing land and forest fires.

Of the 286 companies, 90 hold industrial forest permits and production concessions, 49 hold land-conversion permits and 147 hold land-use permits.

All together, they are responsible for burning of 191,993 hectares of land.

The decision to impose administrative sanctions before bringing the cases to court is something that is unprecedented. It is also a part of a grand plan set up by the central government to put an end to forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, areas that have struggled with worsening land and forest fires over the past 18 years.

Both the Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) and the Indonesian Palm Oil Producers Association (Gapki) have rejected the general notion that big companies are behind the rampant forest fires, arguing that they are actually victims of the widespread slash-and-burn land clearing practices that are common in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Slash-and-burn farming is a generations-old agricultural practice to clear land quickly through the cutting and burning of forests and woodlands to clear the areas for agricultural purposes.

“There’s no way we would burn [our own concessions] because we would suffer from losses due to the loss of plantation assets,” APHI executive director Purwadi Soeprihanto said on Tuesday.

Likewise, head of Gapki’s agrarian and spatial planning division, Eddy Martono, said that most of its members whose concessions had burned up were in fact victims.

“While it’s true that the fires occurred on the concessions, these concessions were not controlled completely by the companies. For example, we already obtained land-cultivation permits but in those areas, local people still lived there. So if we looked at the hotspots, the fires happened on our concessions but they were actually [the wrongdoing of] local people,” he told a press conference at Gapki offices on Tuesday. “Gapki members are actually victims from this disaster.”

Langgam Inti Pelindo, one of the companies whose permit is to be suspended, is a member of Gapki.

“From PT Langgam’s report to us, their concession caught fire from neighboring plantations,” Eddy said.

Read more!

Indonesia: Haze remains unbeatable despite downpours, efforts to douse fires

Rizal Harahap and Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, The Jakarta Post 22 Sep 15;

Despite the declining intensity of smoke in some parts of Sumatra over the past two days, the overall air quality on the island has remained at alarming levels, putting residents and local authorities on constant alert regarding the impact of thick haze on health and transportation safety.

In West Sumatra, a Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station in Bukit Kototabang, Agam regency, reported on Monday that some regions in the province recorded the air quality at the “moderate” or “healthy” level.

Thick haze that brought down the air quality in Agam to the “dangerous” level on Saturday, for example, subsided on Monday following rain that poured over the area on the weekend.

The same downpour, however, only managed to briefly reduce the intensity of haze that blanketed the provincial capital of Padang, located 100 kilometers southeast of Agam. After rain subdued the haze on Sunday night, the smoke thickened again on Monday morning.

“With the current level of rain intensity, West Sumatra will not see haze disappearing as long as it keeps coming from the neighboring South Sumatra, Jambi and Riau provinces,” GAW head Edison Kurniawan said on Monday.

Apart from West Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan are among the provinces hardest hit by the air pollution originating from fires in peatland and plantations. The ongoing haze crisis has also been exacerbated with this year’s prolonged dry season that has been triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

In Pekanbaru, Riau, the local Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) station reported that 139 hotspots had been detected in the province on Monday morning, an increase from only 20 spotted a day earlier. The figure accounted for almost half of the total 284 hotspots detected across Sumatra.

BMKG officer Aristya Ardhitama attributed the surge in the number of hotspots to returning fires in peatland.

“The only way to completely put out fires in peatland is by submerging it in water. That’s why heavy equipment will be needed to build canals to engulf fire-prone peatland,” Aristya said.

Despite the increase in the number of hotspots, Riau has also seen the air quality in some regions improve from “dangerous” to “unhealthy”, the BMKG reported.

Responding to the fluctuating haze intensity, Pekanbaru Education Agency head Zulfadil said his office had decided to extend its earlier policy to close local schools, which was supposed to be lifted on Monday.

“After coordinating with officials from the Riau Education Agency, we have decided to extend the policy until the Riau provincial administration lifts its current haze emergency status,” Zulfadil said.

The Riau Transportation Agency recently reported that more than 600 flights from and to Pekanbaru’s Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport were delayed or canceled during recent weeks due to poor visibility.

In North Sumatra, Nias search and rescue (SAR) station coordinator Torang M. Hutahaean said thick haze that had blanketed Nias waters for the past three days had caused many local fishermen to become lost in the middle of the sea.

In Central Java, some 100 hikers were reportedly trapped on Mount Slamet as fires caught alight in a forest on the slopes of the 3,428-meter-high volcano. “Military and SAR personnel have been deployed to make sure that all climbers can be rescued,” Purbalingga Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Priyo Satmoko said.

Apriadi Gunawan in Medan and Agus Maryono in Purbalingga contributed to this article.

Central Kalimantan's PSI pushing 2,000
MY PAPER AsiaOne 23 Sep 15;

JAKARTA - The haze from Kalimantan's forest fires intensified yesterday, driving the pollution gauge in parts of the Borneo island to hazardous levels, especially in Central Kalimantan province, where the pollution index came close to 2,000.

In Sumatra, the other centre of the haze outbreak, rainfall helped alleviate the pollution in Riau province. But the air may worsen again in Jambi and South Sumatra provinces after days of improvement, reported the local media.

According to data from the Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, the Pollution Standards Index (PSI) at Palangkaraya, capital of Central Kalimantan, reached a day's high of 1,986.73 yesterday, more than five times above the "hazardous" air quality base level of 350.1, reported Bloomberg.

In the West Kalimantan city of Pontianak, the gauge peaked at 706.45.

The morning visibility in Palangkaraya reached only 10m yesterday, and residents had to put up with a stench in the air and irritated eyes, online newspaper Banjarmasin Post reported.

The persistent haze prompted about 150 activists to stage a protest yesterday outside the office of Central Kalimantan's acting governor Hadi Probowo, urging for quick and concrete solutions, reported the newspaper.

"The government is not serious in addressing the fire in Central Kalimantan. They only prevent the burning, but never go for the perpetrators," said one protester.

Meanwhile, Jakarta announced it has revoked the licence of Indonesian wood supplier Hutani Sola Lestari, which is based in Sumatra, reported Agence France-Presse.

Environment Ministry spokesman Eka W. Sugiri also said three companies running oil-palm plantations in Sumatra are banned from operation until legal actions against them have been completed.

Muhammad Yunus, director of criminal law at the Environment Ministry, said a Singapore-owned company was also under investigation, but declined to elaborate, reported Reuters.

The fires, mostly started to clear land for oil-palm and pulp and paper plantations on Sumatra and Kalimantan, are an annual occurrence.

But Indonesian President Joko Widodo has insisted this year that law breakers will be punished.

Police have in the past week launched investigations into several companies and arrested executives, while more than 170 individuals are also being probed over the fires.

Malaysia's state of Sarawak, which borders Kalimantan, yesterday reported the return of the haze, with the Air Pollutant Index (API) in the capital of Kuching reaching 112, an unhealthy mark, the BorneoPost reported.

But the API in Kuala Lumpur hovered in the moderate range of between 70 and 80.

In Sumatra, the haze in Jambi province has thickened again, the Tempo daily reported, without citing the PSI.

According to Arif Munandar, who heads the Jambi branch of the National Agency for Disaster Management, the haze came mainly from the neighbouring South Sumatra province.

Air quality in Pekanbaru - Riau's capital, where a haze emergency was declared last week - was reported to be good yesterday.

Haze worsens as Singapore, parts of Indonesia covered in smog
Today Online 23 Sep 15;

JAKARTA — The haze from Indonesian forest fires intensified this afternoon (Sept 22), driving the pollution gauge in parts of the country to hazardous levels and blanketing downtown Singapore with a layer of smog.

The pollution index at Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan province reached 1,990.4, more than five times the “hazardous” air quality base level of 351, according to data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics. In the West Kalimantan city of Pontianak, the gauge was at 481.64. In Singapore, the 3-hour PSI rose to 161 as of 5 pm, while the 24-hour PSI was 85-103.

Indonesia’s enforcement of its laws against plantation owners is key to resolving the haze that covered parts of Southeast Asia in the past few weeks, Singapore’s Environment Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Friday. The smog led the city-state to cancel outdoor events and flights were diverted across the region.

Seven flights at the Kuching International Airport in the east Malaysian state of Sarawak were also affected due to low visibility because of the haze, state news agency Bernama reported.

Indonesia last week set a 14-day deadline starting to extinguish fires in Riau, and a 30-day target for South Sumatra and Jambi. The government has detained suspects in companies in various parts of the country.

Indonesia will take firm action on concession holders and blacklist directors, commissioners and owners involved in forest fires, Mr Luhut Panjaitan, coordinating minister for politics, law and security affairs, said yesterday in Jakarta, adding he was betting his reputation on the matter.

The haze led organisers of the Formula One race in Singapore over the weekend to add contingency plans such as selling N95 masks at cost and having medical personnel on standby for haze-related conditions. BLOOMBERG

Read more!

Malaysia won't protect its companies in Indonesia for causing haze

Malaysia has said it will not protect its companies if they are found guilty of practising slash-and-burn to clear lands in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia.

By Melissa Goh, Malaysia Bureau Chief, Channel NewsAsia 23 Sep 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has said it will not protect its companies if they are found guilty of practising slash-and-burn to clear lands in Kalimantan and Sumatra in Indonesia.

Malaysia's Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Indonesian authorities need to put in place proper laws and tighten enforcement in order to effectively curb the haze menace.

Mr Wan Junaidi, who took over the ministry less than two months ago, expressed regrets that the scheduled meeting with his Indonesian counterpart was postponed indefinitely.

He said it's not fair for Jakarta to blame foreign plantation giants for starting fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan that have engulfed the region in choking haze, including neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

Mr Wan Junaidi said: "Any company operating in Indonesia is subjected to Indonesian laws. If you have the proper and right kind of law, no company nor individual will oppose it. It all boils down to enforcement ... and the political will. Malaysia as a nation, we are not going to protect them if indeed Malaysian companies are doing it."

Many oil palm concessions in Kalimantan and Sumatra are owned by listed plantation companies in Malaysia which sometimes leased out lands to small holders. Mr Wan Junaidi said these small holders may not have the knowledge and expertise to clear lands for new crops, apart from slash-and-burn that's regarded as the cheapest and fastest method.

Mr Wan Junaidi said: "Why it happens so much in Kalimantan and Sumatra and it does not happen here when we have the same kind of porous peat land is because we take care of it ... we have the expertise, the knowledge and the experience, we are ready to assist Indonesia as and when necessary."

He said Malaysia stands ready to help Jakarta in early warning and prevention of peat forest fires, including building tube wells and fire breakers in hotspots in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Mr Wan Junaidi added that both countries are working towards signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to operationalise the plan by year end.

- CNA/de

Read more!

Malaysia: Breathing problems on the rise

SHARON LING The Star 23 Sep 15;

KUCHING: More people are seeking treatment for respiratory ailments, likely due to the haze, said doctors in the state.

Dr Wong Mee Heang of a clinic in Batu Kawa said the number of such patients increased by about 20% in the past week.

“We are seeing more asthmatic cases and patients with bronchitis, upper respiratory tract infection, cough and flu,” she said.

She added that these ailments were usually aggravated by haze, which returned yesterday after a brief respite.

Ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Wong Howe Tung said he also saw an increase in such cases.

After four days of relatively clear air conditions, the haze returned to Sarawak yesterday with Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman areas recording unhealthy air quality levels.

Meanwhile, the Singapore-based Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre reported that Kali­mantan was still shrouded in smoke and haze as dry weather conditions prevailed.

Images from the NOAA-18 satellite, which tracks open-burning sites larger than 10sq m, showed 475 hotspots in Kalimantan on Monday.

Cyclone making haze worse
RAZAK AHMAD, MUGUNTAN VANAR, AND JOASH EE DE SILVA The Star 23 Sep 15;

PETALING JAYA: The haze is back after a hiatus of several days and the air quality is now getting worse in Sarawak and several other parts of the country.

A cyclone in the Philippines is carrying winds with smoke particles from land-clearing fires in Indonesia towards Malaysia.

Of the 53 areas measured nationwide, the Air Pollutant Index (API) readings rose in 23 of them.

It fell in seven areas and was unchanged in the rest as at 5pm yesterday compared to readings taken in the same period a day earlier.

Kuching was the highest with 127, followed by Samarahan (123) and Sri Aman (121).

In Port Klang, the air quality worsened from 61 to 69; 52 to 56 in Petaling Jaya; 61 to 71 in Larkin; 71 to 78 in Pasir Gudang; 54 to 65 in Kota Baru; and 53 to 69 in Port Dickson.

A reading of 100 to 200 indicates unhealthy air quality; 201 to 300 is very unhealthy; and above 300 is hazardous. A reading of 51 to 100 is moderate.

In Sabah, the air quality worsened in the south-eastern Tawau district while some interior areas were also affected yesterday.

Sabah Meteorological Department director Abdul Malik Tussin said visibility fell to about 4km in Tawau, which borders Kalimantan, where some 78 hotspots were recorded.

In the interiors of Keningau and Ranau, visibility was at 6km and 7km respectively. In Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan, it was more than 10km.

“We expect the south-westerly winds to blow until Sept 28, although tropical storms over the South China Sea may help lift the haze briefly from Sabah,” said Abdul Malik.

In Kuching, Sarawak, poor visibility yesterday caused two flights to be cancelled while 13 others were delayed.

Kuching International Airport senior manager Mohd Nadzim Hashim said visibility there dropped to a mere 1km.

In a statement yesterday, the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry said satellite imagery showed more than 470 hotspots in Kalimantan and 26 in Sumatra.

MOSTI Ready For Cloud Seeding If Haze Returns - Madius
Bernama 21 Sep 15;

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) is on a standby mode to conduct another cloud seeding operation as the haze is expected to return within this week, said its minister Datuk Madius Tangau.

"We have been informed that the hazy condition will return anytime this week, however cloud seeding will only be carried out if the Air Pollutant Index readings exceed 100 for three days in a row.

"Till then we will be on a standby mode to face any possibilities of the returning haze," he said after officiating The International Science and Nature Congress (ISNaC) 2015, here Monday.

The Star daily quoting the Meteorological Department spokesperson Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said a potential cyclone is building up on the eastern side of the Philippines that was likely to pull winds, bringing the haze back from Indonesia to Malaysia.

This is expected to happen from tomorrow and could last until early next month, based on how strong the cyclone turns out to be and the number of fires raging in Indonesia.

Last Wednesday's cloud seeding operations in northern Selangor, southern Perak and west Pahang had successfully generated rainfall in those areas.

The country was shrouded in haze since last week due to the forest fires in Indonesia, causing schools in several states to be closed and several airlines having to reschedule their flight.

-- BERNAMA

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