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Haze is heading Singapore’s way, Indonesia warns
Today Online 19 Aug 16;
JAKARTA — Indonesia warned on Friday (Aug 19) that haze from forest fires was floating over the Malacca Strait towards its neighbours, and that the rising number of blazes as a result of the dry weather in the coming weeks could make fire-fighting efforts more challenging.
Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho warned that smoke had on Thursday started floating across the waterway that runs between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
“Smoke from forest and land fires in Riau (province) has started to enter the Malacca Strait,” he tweeted. “Let’s prevent and put out the fires.”
Riau, on western Sumatra island, is a major centre of the palm oil and pulpwood industry, and many fires occur there every year.
The fires and resulting smog are an annual dry-season problem in the archipelago, when blazes are started illegally to quickly and cheaply clear land, typically to make way for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.
But last year’s haze outbreak from September to November was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke. The crisis affected tens of millions of people, forcing school closures and caused thousands to fall sick across the region.
While this year’s fires have yet to reach the levels of 2015, the number has been rising in recent weeks as Indonesia heads towards its peak dry season in September.
Mr Nugroho also said the number of “hot spots” detected by satellites — areas of intense heat that are either already on fire or vulnerable to going up in flames — had increased in West Kalimantan province, on Indonesia’s part of Borneo island.
A total of 158 hot spots were detected in the province yesterday, up from 106 a day earlier.
“Scattered hot spots with localised smoke plumes continued to be observed in West Kalimantan. The prevailing winds in the region are expected to blow from the south or south-west in the next few days,” said the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) on its website on Friday.
The ASMC on Thursday declared “level 2” alert for hotspots in Kalimantan after more than 150 hot spots were detected for two consecutive days.
Malaysia’s Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said this means all Asean countries are required to submit daily situation reports on the status of the fires, steps taken to extinguish them and haze mitigation efforts.
“This will allow the authorities to activate a joint emergency response should the forest fires or haze situation get out of hand,” he said in a statement on Thursday.
There are four levels of alert with the highest, level 3, activated twice in September last year — first in Sumatra and then Kalimantan after more than 250 hot spots were detected.
Mr Wan Junaidi had said he would write to his Indonesian counterpart Siti Nurbaya Bakar to inform her of these latest development, including the haze that shrouded parts of Malaysia a few days ago.
Mr Nugroho told Reuters on Friday that dry weather, which complicates firefighting efforts, would reach its peak in September, noting that the “critical period” for fires was from this month to October.
The government’s early announcement of a state of emergency for fires in five provinces this year had helped to prevent them from spreading as extensively as in 2015, he said, when El Nino made the problem worse.
“Countermeasures, including the response from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, have been faster and better. Last year the emergency status was declared only after the fires were widespread,” Mr Nugroho added. AGENCIES
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Indonesia: Hot spots increase in West Kalimantan
Jakarta Post 20 Aug 16;
The number of hot spots in West Kalimantan increased to 636 on Friday, raising concerns that thick haze could disrupt flights at Supadio Airport in Pontianak.
Bayuh Iswantoro, the Pontianak general manager of airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, said his office had prepared for possible haze in the near future.
“Internally, we have maintained the readiness of our facilities. We have ensured the instrument landing system is in a primary condition,” Bayuh said Friday.
In anticipation of thick haze that could disrupt flights, Bayuh said his office had also discussed delay management with some airlines.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has recorded 636 hot spots in 13 regencies and cities in the province as of 7 a.m. on Thursday.
Since Aug. 1, rainfall has decreased in the province.
Concerns grow in Pontianak as number of hot spots increases
Severianus Endi and Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 19 Aug 16;
The number of hot spots in West Kalimantan has increased rapidly in the past two weeks, from a dozen to over 100, raising concerns over air pollution and the disruption of flights at the province’s Supadio Airport.
Haze resulting from forest fires has covered Dumai, Riau, too.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, detected 177 hot spots in nine of the province’s 14 regencies or cities as of Wednesday morning.
In anticipation of potential haze, the West Kalimantan Disaster Mitigation Agency plans to soon bring two helicopters to the province, like it did last year.
“The helicopters are needed for water bombing and air patrols,” the agency’s head, TTA Nyarong, said on Thursday.
As part of the province’s readiness, he said the provincial administration had established a taskforce to anticipate potential technical problems.
Another taskforce has been set up specifically to organize mass prayers to ask for rain.
Nyarong said, however, that compared to last year, the number of hot spots had decreased by 80 percent due to the absence of the El Niño weather phenomenon.
By August last year, 1,000 hot spots had been detected. This year, for the same period, the figure is just 200.
Haze has also been routinely detected at night and in the morning across the region although so far the haze has not disrupted flight activities at Supadio Airport in Pontianak.
Meanwhile, at least eight persons have been questioned by the police as witnesses in forest and land fire cases in the province. West Kalimantan Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Suhadi SW said the witnesses were land owners, workers and owners of the land next to the burned hectares.
“It’s not impossible that they will be named suspects,” said Suhadi, adding that a map organized by a joint team of stakeholders showed that 135 subdistricts in the province were prone to fires and were under monitoring.
Last year, the police processed 35 forest and land fire cases, four of which allegedly involved corporations. The other 31 involved individuals. Later, the four cases were dropped due to a lack of evidence.
Pontianak Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Iwan Iman Susilo said his office had so far examined two persons alleged to have cleared land by burning it. The fire allegedly spread to the land bordering their own.
“There are a number of other cases that are still under investigation. Some other cases were dropped due to a lack of supporting evidence,” Iwan said.
West Kalimantan Governor Cornelis called on the owners of oil palm plantation concessions to build artificial lakes or canals to hold water in anticipation of fires.
“Every region has established a fire alert post so people can participate and not just depend on the apparatus,” Cornelis said.
Meanwhile in Riau, the provincial forest and land emergency alert taskforce has succeeded in decreasing the number of hot spots in the province. However, smoke is still emanating from burned land in the area.
Data from the Terra and Aqua satellites collected by the BMKG’s Pekanbaru station showed that as of Thursday morning, there were only 43 hot spots left in Riau, while a day before, the figure was 278, the highest so far this year.
“Of the hotspots detected, 22 are indicated to be fires, with a 70 percent reliability level,” station head Sugarin said on Thursday.
He said the regions confronting forest and land fires included Pujud, Rimba Melintang and Tanah Putih districts in Rokan Hilir, Teluk Meranti in Pelalawan, Bonai Darussalam, Rambah Hilir and Rokan IV Koto in Rokan Hulu and Batang Cenaku in Indragiri Hulu.
Sugarin said forest and land fires had caused haze in the subdistricts located around the fire spots as well as in the city of Dumai on Thursday morning, decreasing visibility from 8 kilometers to just 5 kilometers in Dumai.
Separately, Catur Hargowo, the head of the technical managing unit at Pinang Kampai Airport in Dumai, said the haze on Thursday had not yet disrupted flights at the pioneer airport.
Indonesia urges action against slash-and-burn clearing as haze season arrives
Bernadette Christina Munthe and Glenys Kirana Reuters 19 Aug 16;
Indonesia's disaster agency urged prompt action against slash-and-burn plantation fires on Friday as the annual smoke "haze" begins to drift across the Malacca Strait to neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
Fires in Indonesia, set in the dry season by companies clearing land for plantations, cause an annual crisis that at times blankets large parts of the region in choking smog, closing airports and schools and prompting warnings to residents to stay indoors.
Home to the world's third-largest area of tropical forests, Indonesia has been criticized by green activists and by neighboring Southeast Asian nations for failing to stop the annual fires.
"Smoke from forest and land fires in Riau has started to enter the Malacca Strait. Let's prevent and put out the fires," agency spokesman Sutopo Nugroho said on his Twitter account @Sutopo_BNPB on Friday, referring to a district on the main island of Sumatra.
He said that over the past week, the numbers of fire "hotspots" in West Kalimantan, on the nearby island of Borneo, had "increased significantly."
Dry weather that complicates firefighting efforts would reach its peak in September, Nugroho told Reuters, noting that the "critical period" for fires was from August to October.
The government's early announcement of a state of emergency for fires in five provinces this year had helped to prevent them from spreading as extensively as in 2015, he said, when El Nino made the problem worse.
"Countermeasures, including the response from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, have been faster and better. Last year the emergency status was declared only after the fires were widespread," he said.
Heavy smoke from slash-and-burn clearing often comes from the islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, where large forest concessions are used by pulp and paper and palm oil companies, some of which are listed in Singapore.
"As we go through the legal process, all the information will be publicly available," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said on Thursday.
Indonesia imposed record fines against a local plantation company last week in the hope of deterring companies and individuals from using fire to clear land.
(Writing by Fergus Jensen; Editing by Nick Macfie)
Indonesia in haze warning as fires flare
Channel NewsAsia 19 Aug 16;
JAKARTA: Indonesia warned Friday (Aug 19) that haze from forest fires was floating over a key waterway towards its neighbours, and that the number of blazes was rising.
The fires and resulting smog are an annual dry season problem in the archipelago, when blazes are started illegally to quickly and cheaply clear land, typically to make way for palm oil and pulpwood plantations.
But last year's haze outbreak was among the worst in memory, shrouding Malaysia, Singapore and parts of Thailand in acrid smoke. The crisis forced school closures and caused thousands to fall sick across the region.
While this year's fires have yet to reach the levels of 2015, the number has been rising in recent weeks as Indonesia heads towards its peak dry season in September.
Disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho warned that smoke had Thursday started floating across the Malacca Strait, which runs between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
"Smoke from forest and land fires in Riau (province) has started to enter the Malacca Strait," he tweeted.
"Let's prevent and put out the fires."
Riau, on western Sumatra island, is a major centre of the palm oil and pulpwood industry, and many fires occur there every year.
He also said the number of "hotspots" detected by satellites -- areas of intense heat that are either already on fire or vulnerable to going up in flames -- had increased in West Kalimantan province, on Indonesia's part of Borneo island.
A total of 158 hotspots were detected in the province on Friday, up from 106 a day earlier.
The governor of the province, a centre of the palm oil industry, had asked the disaster agency to provide helicopters for water-bombing and "cloud-seeding", or chemically inducing rain, said Nugroho.
Indonesia has faced intense criticism from its neighbours and the international community over its failure to halt the annual smog outbreaks.
Jakarta has promised tougher action. It has announced a plan to stop granting new land for palm oil plantations, and established an agency to restore millions of hectares of carbon-rich peatlands susceptible to fires.
- AFP/mn
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Malaysia: Klang Valley air quality improving though 183 hotspots detected in Kalimantan
BERNAMA New Straits Times 19 Aug 16;
KUCHING: A total of 183 hotspots have been detected in Kalimantan and seven in Sumatera, Indonesia, since yesterday, triggering the possibility of haze blanketing areas in Sarawak should the winds blow this way.
Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said, however, the haze in the country was still under control as no unhealthy Air Pollution Index reading (API of over 100) had been recorded anywhere.
He said that since yesterday the hotspots were only detected in four areas in Sibu, four in Sri Aman, two in Miri, two in Kapit and one each in Limbang, Bintulu and Sarikei.
“The situation in haze-hit areas in the Klang Valley and surrounding areas is reported to be improving today,” he told a press conference after visiting Sekolah Kebangsaan Gersik here today.
Haze hit the Klang Valley a few days ago and areas around Manjung were the worst affected when the API hit the moderal level of 97 yesterday.
An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality; 51 to 100, moderate; 101 to 200, unhealthy; 201 to 300, very unhealthy and 300 and above, hazardous.
Nevertheless, until noon today, no areas in the country recorded an API of more than 70.
Wan Junaidi said the 183 hotspots detected by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre based in Singapore since yesterday were a significant increase from the 177 hotspots reported the day before.
He anticipated that the haze this time would not be as bad as the situation experienced in the country late last year as the Indonesian government as well as other Asean countries have shown their full commitment in tackling the problem to ensure the situation would not recur. --Bernama
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Malaysia: Man fined RM25,000 for having pangolins
STEPHANIE LEE The Star 20 Aug 16;
KOTA KINABALU: A man was slapped with a RM25,000 fine in default three years’ jail after he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of live pangolins and 900g of pangolin scales.
Abdullah Rappe, 56, pleaded guilty before Lahad Datu Sessions Court judge Zaini Fishir on Aug 18.
Abdullah was arrested during a roadblock mounted by the Sabah Wildlife Department at about 7.10am on Feb 20, where he was found with 24 live pangolins, a carcass, and a plastic full of pangolin’s internal organs along with 900g of scales.
The animal and other items were found inside the vehicle he was driving along the Sandakan-Lahad Datu road.
He paid the fine.
Sabah Wildlife Department director William Baya said pangolins were categorised as protected species under the Wildlife Conservation Enactment (WCE) 1997.
“Our department is putting its efforts to upgrade this endangered species to Schedule 1 (Totally Protected) of WCE 1997, “ he said.
Meanwhile, all the live pangolins that were seized during the roadblock have been sent to Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre for immediate veterinary care.
A total of 20 pangolins were successfully released back to a forest reserve in Sabah.
“I am glad that the pangolins are now back in the wild and did not end up on someone’s dinner plate or used in traditional Chinese medicine,” Baya said.
Pangolins are deemed as an exotic delicacy among many whereas their parts including the scales are being used as medicine although there has been no proof of medicinal value as yet.
Man fined RM25.000 for illegal possession of pangolins
OLIVIA MIVIL New Straits Times 20 Aug 16;
LAHAD DATU: A 56-year-old man was fined RM25,000 fine for illegal possession of live pangolins and pangolin scales.
The sentence, in default of three years’ jail term, was meted out by Sessions Court judge Zaini Fishir here on Thursday.
Abdullah Rappe pleaded guilty to the charge under Section 41 (2) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997 for possession of protected wildlife product without permit.
The Sabah Wildlife Department director Dr William Baya said in a statement that Abdullah had pleaded for leniency through his counsel Edward Paul but Prosecuting Officer Augustine Tuuga pressed for harder deterrent sentence to prevent further depletion of the species due to poaching activities.
Abdullah was picked up during a roadblock near Pusat Timbangan JPJ Sandau along Sandakan-Lahad Datu road on Feb 20.
The state Wildlife Department personnel found 24 live pangolins, a carcass, and a plastic bag full of pangolin’s internal organs along with 900g of pangolin scales in his car.
"Those live pangolins received immediate veterinary care at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre upon seizure and 20 of them which had recovered were released back to a forest reserve.
"I am glad those pangolins are now back in the wild instead of ending up on someone’s dinner plate or being used as traditional medicine." said Baya.
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France seizes 2,000 dead seahorses en route to Vietnam
Channel NewsAsia 19 Aug 16;
PARIS: French customs officials said Friday (Aug 19) they had intercepted some 2,000 dead seahorses, prized in Asia for use in traditional medicine and as aphrodisiacs.
The "dead and dehydrated" seahorses - a protected species - were found on July 28 and August 8 hidden in airmail packages sent from the west African country of Guinea destined for Vietnam, it said.
Paris customs official Olivier Gourdon told AFP that seahorses, protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), are confiscated "pretty often".
He said they are generally trafficked from African countries to Vietnam as well as China and Japan.
In addition to their use in traditional medicine and as aphrodisiacs, seahorses are sold to tourists as souvenirs, Gourdon said.
He did not put a value on the find but some 19,000 seahorses seized in February 2015, en route from Madagascar to Hong Kong, had an estimated value of 200,000 euros ($225,000).
- AFP
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Best of our wild blogs: 19 Aug 16
Join us @ Tanah Merah 7 on Sat 17 Sep 2016 as part of 25th International Coastal Cleanup Singapore!
News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore
Here’s where tropical forests have been destroyed for palm oil over the past 25 years
Conservation news, Mongabay.com
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'Chippy' the monkey removed to be rehabilitated, returned to wild
Monkey at Kent Ridge Park to be rehabilitated after complaints of nuisance
JUDITH TAN The New Paper 19 Aug 16;
Chippy the monkey, said to be bothering residents living near Kent Ridge Park, has been removed to be rehabilitated and returned to the wild.
In a joint statement to The New Paper earlier this week, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) and National Parks Board (NParks) said it was done "to ensure public safety".
Mr Louis Ng, head of the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (Acres), also said: "Chippy is a wild macaque. We are working on rehabilitating Chippy so that she can hopefully be wild and free again rather than be held captive."
The two agencies said they had received feedback about monkey nuisance and attacks in the vicinity of Kent Ridge Park and Normanton Park condominium.
Their statement said: "We have ascertained that this nuisance was caused by a lone macaque which was regularly fed by some members of the public.
"...Monkey nuisance and attacks often arise when monkeys are fed by irresponsible members of the public.
"Feeding wild monkeys alters their natural behaviour and makes them reliant on humans for food. This eventually leads the monkeys to display aggressive behaviour such as grabbing plastic bags and food containers from people."
Under the law, monkey-feeding is an offence and the penalty is a fine up to $50,000 or a jail term up to six months, or both.
But Madam Prema, a 70-year-old Normanton Park resident who befriended the long-tailed macaque, told TNP in a phone interview that Chippy "had never grabbed anyone's bag or attacked park-goers".
Chippy made his appearance in February.
Madam Prema's daughter, Ms Maria Chaya, said: "I remember my mother coming home that first day and telling us how he sat next to her and was friendly.
"We called the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), who then advised us to call Acres. Its staff came down to observe him and told us he was a young transient, a lone monkey, and for us to leave him alone and we did."
Prior to Chippy, the last monkeys seen in the area were between 2009 and 2010, said Ms Chaya.
"The troop was subsequently culled because they entered Normanton Park and had bitten someone. In the preceding six years, no monkeys, troops or transient, have been seen in Lower Kent Ridge or Normanton Park," she added.
Madam Prema's friendship with the monkey came to light when a petition was posted online by British monkey sanctuary, Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, not to have the primate culled but re-homed with it.
The family said they contacted the sanctuary in April, only when the abuse of Chippy had escalated. Ms Chaya said she was willing to pay to have Chippy vaccinated, quarantined and then shipped to Britain.
Madam Prema said she misses her primate friend and is feeling depressed "because I helped them entrap him".
"I called, he came and went into the cage," she said.
Should rehabilitation fail, would Chippy be sent to a sanctuary abroad?
An NParks spokesman said the objective behind NParks, AVA and Acres working together was to rehabilitate the macaque so as to wean it off human food and "reverse the monkey's dependence on humans".
"Acres had successfully rehabilitated macaques and reintroduced them back to the forest previously. The rehabilitation process usually takes a few months, though it differs from monkey to monkey," said the spokesman.
She also added that Chippy is a native wildlife.
"In general, the Government and Acres do not support the export of native wildlife overseas," she said.
Chippy the monkey removed from Kent Ridge Park for ‘rehabilitation’
Lianne Chia Channel NewsAsia 19 Aug 16;
SINGAPORE: The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and National Parks Board (NParks) have removed a monkey in Kent Ridge Park in order to “ensure public safety”.
The long-tailed macaque, which was befriended at the start of this year by Normanton Park resident Madam Prema, is now with wildlife rescue organisation Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) for “rehabilitation”. This is so that Chippy can “hopefully be wild and free again rather than be held captive,” said ACRES’ Executive Director Louis Ng.
In a joint statement, NParks, AVA and ACRES said they were working together to rehabilitate the monkey. “The main objective is to wean the monkey off human food, so as to reverse the monkey’s dependence on humans caused by the feeding and interaction with the monkey by members of the public.”
They added that the rehabilitation process usually takes a few months, though this could differ from monkey to monkey. ACRES has, they said, also had successful cases of rehabilitating monkeys and reintroducing them back to the forest before.
The monkey was removed from the park last Thursday (Aug 11).
Channel NewsAsia had earlier reported that Mdm Prema and her family had wanted to send the monkey, which they named Chippy, to a UK sanctuary after expressing concerns about its ability to survive in the wild.
Chippy’s fate has garnered widespread international attention, with a petition started by Jan Garen, director of the Wales Ape and Monkey Sanctuary, receiving more than 4,600 signatures as of Aug 18. Prominent figures have also taken a stand, with rock band Queen’s guitarist Brian May signing and sharing the petition on his Twitter account.
While Mdm Prema and her family are willing to bear the cost of sending the monkey to the UK, people signing the petition have also pledged money to help. The cost of the sending the monkey to the sanctuary includes the cost of export permits, medical checks, crating and freight. It could come up to about S$6,000.
CHIPPY NOW ‘EVEN MORE TAME’
Mdm Prema had first seen and befriended Chippy at the beginning of this year. Since then, she had been returning to the park twice a day to visit and play with him.
She told Channel NewsAsia in June that there may be reason to believe he was kept as an illegal pet which was released into the wild, and would therefore have problems surviving on his own. “From day one he was lost and wanted to be close to humans and touch us,” she said then. “He was rolling at our feet and playing with us without food as a prompt.”
Channel NewsAsia observed this type of behaviour when it visited Mdm Prema and Chippy then.
When Channel NewsAsia visited Mdm Prema on Wednesday (Aug 17), she said that Chippy had grown “even more tame” since then.
“He understands and is able to respond to more words now…he will roll, and I’ll tell him to go and sleep…and he will immediately lie down. He can even look through the viewfinder in the camera,” she said.
Mdm Prema and her family had earlier sent footage of Chippy’s behaviour to three or four wildlife experts overseas, and they agreed he did not behave like a typical monkey.
‘WE WOULD NOT HAVE HELPED CATCH HIM’
But even now that Chippy is out of the wild, Mdm Prema and her family are now concerned about his well-being at ACRES.
“He’s got no chance with them…I’ve seen the way they handle him…I don’t trust them,” she said, citing the behaviour of an ACRES staff member towards Chippy earlier this year. In video footage captured by Mdm Prema’s daughter, an ACRES staff member can be seen waving and banging a long stick on the ground in front of Chippy in order to keep the monkey out of the Normanton Park condominium compound.
She claimed that her family’s calls and queries to ACRES have gone unanswered, and she has no idea how Chippy is doing. This has, she said, caused her some distress and sleepless nights, particularly because she said she was asked by the authorities to help catch Chippy.
“Chippy was running away and would not come down from the tree. We were told that he was going to the AVA, and they promised me he would not be culled. There was no talk about ACRES, no talk about rehabilitation, nothing.”
“So I used his favourite toy to coax him down, and we captured him in 45 minutes.”
“It was only the day after when we called NParks that we found out he was at ACRES. That made me feel like I wanted to die,” she said.
“Had we known Chippy was going to ACRES, we would not have helped catch him.”
MONKEY NUISANCE
In their statement, AVA and NParks said they had received feedback about monkey nuisance and attacks in the vicinity of Kent Ridge Park and Normanton Park. “We have ascertained that this nuisance was caused by a lone macaque which was regularly fed by some members of the public.”
“Monkey nuisance and attacks often arise when monkeys are fed by irresponsible members of the public,” they said. “Feeding wild monkeys alters their natural behaviour and makes them reliant on humans for food.”
“This eventually leads the monkeys to display aggressive behaviour such as grabbing plastic bags and food containers from people.”
Since January this year, AVA and NParks have each received six instances of feedback of monkey nuisance and attacks that they are certain are related to Chippy. NParks has also received two reports of the macaque biting members of the public. But both agencies cannot be certain that the numbers do not overlap.
They added that illegal monkey feeding is an offence which carries a penalty of a fine of up to S$50,000 or an imprisonment term not exceeding six months, or both.
But Mdm Prema reiterated that while she had fed Chippy “once or twice” at the start, she had not done so for a long time. Instead, she had taught him to gather wild seeds and flowers from the park.
She also said that Chippy had never grabbed plastic bags or food from other people.
But despite the assurances that Chippy would not be culled, Mdm Prema and her family remain resistant to his being released into the wild again. “He is still subject to Singapore’s culling policy, and he could be attacked by another troop,” she said. “That’s like culling him in a natural way.”
“If he is not sent to Wales, I hope he will at least be sent to the zoo here. He will be safe, the people are well-trained, and Chippy enjoys people.”
- CNA/lc
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Singapore, Indonesia to launch project, may discuss haze
Tama Salim The Jakarta Post 19 Aug 16;
The inauguration of an industrial estate in Central Java will be one of the highlights of an upcoming Indonesia-Singapore leaders’ retreat later this month.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, several Singaporean ministers and CEOs from Singapore’s 14 top companies plan to visit the Kendal Industrial Estate (KIK) during a retreat held in Semarang from Wednesday to Friday next week.
The Foreign Ministry’s East Asia and Pacific director Edi Yusup said on Thursday Prime Minister Lee and President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo would attend a ceremony to inaugurate the 2,200-hectare industrial estate.
“The first phase of the estate’s development will cover up to 1,000 hectares of land. It is expected to finish in 2020,” Edi said, adding that the industries targeted to operate in the KIK included furniture, garment and automotive industries.
The estate is a joint venture between PT Jababeka, which holds a 51 percent stake, and Singapore’s Sembawang Corporation.
Edi said that so far, 16 companies from Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, China and Japan had started construction of business facilities in the industrial estate with total investment of around Rp 3.2 trillion (US$244 million).
“We hope the 14 CEOs from Singapore will be interested in investing in the industrial estate and also in other parts of the country,” Edi told a press briefing, adding that KIK’s development was expected to trigger economic growth in Central Java.
During the retreat, the leaders of Indonesia and Singapore will discuss various bilateral, regional and global issues that are of mutual concern for the two countries.
Meanwhile, ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir did not rule out the possibility that transboundary haze pollution (TBHP) would be an issue that Jokowi and the Singaporean prime minister might discuss during the retreat.
He did, however, emphasize that Indonesia had repeatedly proved its commitment to mitigating forest and land fires and its adverse effect on the environment and neighboring countries. “Among the steps we’ve taken are water bombing runs, weather modification, integrated patrols, awareness-raising campaigns and canal digging — all of them underscore Indonesia’s commitment to overcoming the [fire and haze pollution] issue,” he asserted.
TBHP has proved to be a thorny issue in the otherwise solid Indonesian-Singaporean bilateral relationship, with the city-state seeking any opportunity to lambast Jakarta for its perceived inability to cope with the annual forest and peatland fires that have posed serious health concerns to neighboring countries.
Earlier in June, Jakarta rejected a request by the Singaporean government to access confidential information on culpable companies, with the city-state later threatening to enforce a politically motivated Transboundary Haze Pollution Act aimed at deterring and prosecuting entities responsible for TBHP.
Arrmanatha insisted that concrete steps have been taken to penalize errant companies connected to the fires and that such efforts had significantly reduced the number of hot spots in Indonesia, dropping by 74 percent from the same January-August period of last year. According to recent data from the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there have been 1,950 hot spots so far this year, compared to 6,312 hot spots from Jan. 1 to Aug. 17 in 2015. (vny)
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Malaysia: Haze despite Indonesia’s swift action to combat forest fires
The Star 19 Aug 16;
TAIPING: The haze is back despite Indonesia’s swift action to combat forest fires.
Some cities in the country have recorded moderate API (air pollutant index) readings in the past week and when asked about it, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the haze season was back.
Wan Junaidi said it had been happening for a week due to the forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan in Indonesia.
But he said things had changed as the Indonesian authorities were taking swift action to combat forest fires but the effects of it were still being felt in the country.
“It hasn’t reached critical stage but I will write a letter to Indonesia Forestry and Environment minister (Dr Siti Nurbaya Bakar) to tell her that the haze is coming here.
“We don’t want to pick a fight but we just want to notify them that the haze is back,” he told reporters after launching the National Ecosystem Mangrove Conservation Day at the Larut-Matang Mangrove Swamp here.
Earlier last month, Wan Junaidi said Malaysia would not experience a severe trans-boundary haze this year.
He said this was because Indonesia seemed to be doing its part to honour its commitment to keep the annual phenomenon in check.
Wan Junaidi added that the haze would not be so serious this year as Indonesia faced a lot of pressure from Malaysia and Singapore as both nations suffer the most.
He revealed that there were several hotspots in the country but the Environment Department and other agencies had rectified the situation quickly.
KL to tell Jakarta haze now hitting Malaysia
BERNAMA New Straits Times 18 Aug 16;
TAIPING: The Natural Resources and Environment Ministry will inform neighbouring country Indonesia that land clearing and forest fires in central Sumatra have brought haze to some parts of Malaysia.
Its minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said he would send an official letter to Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Dr Siti Nurbaya Bakar on the matter.
“We will inform her that we see the haze already reaching some parts of Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak,” he told reporters after officiating at the national-level International Day for the Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystem 2016 in Kuala Sepetang, here, today.
Wan Junaidi said although Indonesia had acted fast to put out the forest fires, the smoke could not be prevented from causing haze.
“Now they are quick (to extinguish the fires) when they get the indicators of fire outbreaks, unlike before, indicating that they are implementing what they had promised,” he said, adding that the haze hitting Malaysia had not reached unhealthy levels yet.
According to the Department of Environment website, as at 3pm today, 33 areas recorded moderate Air Pollutant Index (API) readings.
API readings of 0-50 indicate good air quality, 51-100 (moderate), 101-200 (unhealthy), 201-300 very unhealthy, and 300 and above (hazardous). --Bernama
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Indonesia: No reason not to immediately stop forest fires, expert says
Bambang Nurbianto The Jakarta Post 18 Aug 16;
Experts say with the current technology, Indonesia has no reason not to immediately extinguish forest fires that have started both in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
“With the firebird technology, we can follow closely the spread of fires from one location to another,” said Suwardi, deputy dean at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB)’s School of Resources, Cooperation and Development, said on Thursday.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the International Peat Congress in Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia, Suwardi said the government needed to immediately utilize the technology to prevent the spread of hot spots, which have increased in number in recent days.
On Wednesday, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) station in Pekanbaru reported 365 hot spots, mostly were seen in Riau forests. Smoke in Sumatra and Kalimantan has posed health risks and disrupted air transportation.
“The government needs to take quick action to stop the fires,” he added.
Meanwhile, Basuki Sumawinata, an IPB expert on land science, added that the technology in place would also help the government enforce the law and immediately prosecute those responsible for the fires and other related parties before the fires spread further.
“We do not need to play the blame game as everything is clear,” Basuki said. (bbn)
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Malaysia: Country Garden expects 20 billion yuan in sales from Forest City project this year
China developer Country Garden expects 20 billion yuan in sales from Malaysia project this year
Cathy Zhang South China Morning Post 18 Aug 16;
Country Garden, China’s third largest home builder, expects to see at least 20 billion yuan in sales from its mega Forest City project in south Malaysia’s Johor state by the end of 2016.
“We expect sales at Forest City in the second half will not be below the 10 billion yuan recorded in the first half,” Mo Bin, president of Country Garden told the Post at the interim result briefing.
The company said the first tranche of flats in its 20 square kilometre city complex will be completed in late 2017 and begin contributions to its revenue.
The project, which will receive total investment of 250 billion yuan over 20 years, is the Chinese developer’s largest project overseas.
But Mo said the company had only paid five billion yuan for Forest City so far, including land cost.
The Guangdong-based firm reported a better-than-expected core net profit in the first half, thanks to strong sales during the period.
Core earnings, excluding revaluation gains, rose 1.6 per cent year on year to 4.96 billion yuan, or 24.18 fen per share, the company said in an exchange statement on Thursday. Analysts polled by SCMP were expecting core earnings of 4.1 billion yuan to 4.6 billion yuan. Revenue rose 21.2 per cent to 57.36 billion yuan.
Despite an industry trend of rushing to buy land plots in China’s largest cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, Mo said the company would look for opportunities in big cities as well as maintaining a strategic focus on smaller cities.
“The third- and fourth-tier cities are where we can do best,” Mo said, adding that he is positive about the market outlook as demand is solid.
The company’s gross margin in the first half contracted to 21 per cent from 23.2 per cent a year ago.
Chief financial officer Wu Jianbin expects the full year gross margin will remain at 21 per cent, but hopes to maintain a positive operating cash flow by the end of 2016.
Ryan Li, a property analyst at JP Morgan, said in a research note that Country Garden’s margin “has shown signs of stabilisation with development costs decreasing year on year”.
However, some analysts are concerned about the developer’s future margin growth.
“Although sales volume is growing, as a great part of Country Garden’s land bank remains in China’s third-tier cities which are struggling with oversupply, the margin has hardly improved,” said John So, a property analyst at China Merchants Securities.
The company plans to continue buying back perpetual bonds worth 16.6 billion yuan, after it bought back three billion yuan worth in the first half.
Mo said the company would strictly control financing costs and has set a 5 per cent target for its average borrowing costs.
Country Garden shares surged 5.3 per cent to a 15-month high on Thursday, closing at HK$3.58 in Hong Kong. The company declared an interim dividend of 6.92 fen per share, up 6.8 per cent from last year.
Wu said the developer would continue to conduct share buy-backs in the next six months if the price is acceptable.
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