Chinese, M’sian firms among suspects behind Indonesia fires

JAKARTA — Malaysian and Chinese companies are among the suspects behind the Indonesian forest fires that have spread haze pollution across South-east Asia.

Twelve companies and 209 individuals are suspected of being behind the fires, with a Singaporean company also under investigation, Indonesian chief of police Badrodin Haiti told reporters in Jakarta yesterday. He did not name the companies.

“They broke the law for burning,” said Mr Haiti, adding the maximum punishments were jail terms of 10 years and fines of as much as 10 billion rupiah (S$1.04 million).

Last month, Indonesia and Singapore named companies that were potentially responsible for forest fires on Sumatra and Borneo, with four palm oil and paper firms having their permits revoked or frozen.

Indonesia has laws banning the burning of forests, but enforcement has been limited in a sprawling archipelago with overlapping land rights, widespread corruption, and a decentralised government.

“Companies are not disciplined in following the rules, therefore causing these severe fires,” said Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Law and Security, Luhut Panjaitan.

After declining offers of help for weeks, Indonesia last week accepted assistance from its neighbours, including Australia, to put out the fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan that drove air quality in Singapore to levels described as “hazardous” and caused haze as far as Thailand and Vietnam.

Aircraft from a multinational effort, including Singapore, have begun water bombing to put out the fires in South Sumatra, but they face difficulties due to poor visibility, said Mr Luhut yesterday.

Fighting the fires this year is a challenge because the El Nino phenomenon causing the dry weather is worse than in 1997 and 1998, added Mr Luhut. In addition, cloud seeding cannot be carried out because there are no clouds. The haze may persist for at least another 10 days, he said.

Mr Luhut said the National Disaster Management Agency has used about US$29 million (S$40.53 million) to tackle the crisis, and will set aside another US$52 million for further efforts.

On Sunday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said Indonesian President Joko Widodo had expressed regret over the haze during a meeting in Bogor, West Java. Malaysia also recommended the building of tube wells as a measure to check peat soil fires in plantation areas.

Mr Najib said Mr Widodo accepted the view and would send authorities to determine the effectiveness of the tube wells in question, especially like those found in Sabah and Sarawak.

Indonesia had first proposed the construction of a canal, which was expected to be completed in three years, a timeframe that is “too long because it means the country is forced to face the haze for three more years”, said Mr Najib. He said tube wells have been effective in checking peat soil fires because water is channelled underground systematically. AGENCIES