[Kabar-indonesia] 4 ST Haze Reports: Jakarta Blame Game [+Nature Society Plan]

[Joyo at aol.com]

4 ST: Reports:

- Blame Game in Indonesia

- Yudhoyono to PM Lee: Indonesia will
  take effective steps in future to curb 
  forest fires

- KL will propose joint fund to help 
  fight fires

- Nature society formulates plan 
  to tackle problem

The Straits Times (Singapore)
Friday, October 13, 2006

Blame game in Indonesia

Finger-pointing by Jakarta govt officials and MPs over control efforts

Devi Asmarani, Indonesia correspondent

IN JAKARTA - GOVERNMENT officials and Members of Parliament 
here are blaming each other for hampering efforts to control the forest 
fires that have shrouded Indonesia and its neighbours in haze each year.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration accuses the
legislature of delaying a crucial regional agreement on the haze
problem.

Parliamentarians say the President's team has not done its ground work.

Differences over the Asean treaty on the haze have hampered official
efforts to tackle the problem for years.

The treaty, signed in 2002, calls for regional cooperation and
concerted, state-backed measures to tackle the haze. Indonesia and the
Philippines are the only nations that have not ratified the agreement.

Yesterday, Dr Yudhoyono's spokesman Dino Patti Djalal reiterated
Indonesia's pledge to ratify the pact.

'Indonesia will ratify it and at the same time adopt a comprehensive
solution to the haze problem,' he said.

The pledge was made on the eve of a meeting of environment ministers
from five South-east Asian nations being held in Pekanbaru, Sumatra,
today to discuss ways to tackle the problem.

But observers will be watching closely to see if today's words are
followed by action.

The fires on Sumatra island and the Indonesian side of Borneo are
usually set by farmers or companies seeking a cheap way to clear
mostly peat land for plantations. They smoulder for weeks or even
months.

Yesterday, hundreds of brush fires raged, sending acrid smoke and haze
over Singapore and Malaysia again.

Across large parts of both regions yesterday, motorists were forced to
turn on their headlights in the day, and all flights to and from at
least one airport on Borneo were cancelled until Saturday due to poor
visibility, a local aviation official said.

Firefighters are trying to extinguish the fires and police have
arrested scores of landowners in recent weeks.

But officials have said that seasonal rains - forecast to fall in the
next few weeks - are the only way to snuff out all the fires.

Dr Yudhoyono's government submitted the haze agreement for
Parliament's approval early this year, but legislators have been
reluctant to approve it.

Mr Agusman Effendy, the head of the parliamentary committee in charge
of the environment, said his commission is still studying it.

'We need to be prepared in anticipating fires before we ratify such an
agreement - we don't want it to backfire,' the member of the ruling
Golkar party told The Straits Times.

He said there is a lack of coordination in efforts to handle forest
fires and the enforcement system is not effective.

His deputy in the committee, Mr Sonny Keraf, gave another reason for
opposing the treaty: It favoured Malaysia and Singapore, the two
neighbouring countries worst hit by the thick smog from Sumatra and
Kalimantan.

'Singapore and Malaysia are acting promptly on the haze problems
because it affects them badly.'

But, he said, the two countries have double standards when it comes to
issues affecting Indonesia's environment.>p>'There is a prevailing
sentiment among major parties in Parliament against (ratification),'
said Mr Sonny.

He added that the haze treaty should be used as a 'diplomatic tool' to
get Malaysia and Singapore to the negotiating table for a 'more
comprehensive agreement on the environment'.

Government officials are critical of the delay.>p>'Parliament is
holding us hostage again,' a top official in the Environment Ministry
told The Straits Times, on condition of anonymity.

'It's typical political arm -wrestling that could drag on and on,' he said.

The feelings of government officials were reflected in a remark made
by Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya.

Asked to respond to the ratification of the Asean treaty, he told the
daily Sinar Harapan on Tuesday: 'Ask Parliament. That's where it's
stuck.'

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The Straits Times (Singapore)
Friday, October 13, 2006

Yudhoyono to PM Lee: Indonesia will take effective steps in future to
curb forest fires

Salim Osman, Indonesia correspondent

IN JAKARTA - PRESIDENT Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono yesterday assured
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, during a phone call, that
Indonesia was determined to take effective measures to prevent forest
fires in future.

The two leaders agreed that Indonesia and other countries in the
region would take concrete steps, and develop a long-term plan of
action towards preventing the haze, according to a statement from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore.

Mr Lee thanked Dr Yudhoyono for his statement on Wednesday which said
Indonesia intended to take this problem very seriously, and for his
'commitment and sincerity' in dealing with the problem.

He also told the President that Singapore welcomed Indonesia's
decision to host the Sub-Regional Environment Ministerial Meeting on
Transboundary Haze Pollution which is taking place in Pekanbaru,
capital of Riau province, today.

The Prime Minister said that following the meeting, Indonesia and the
Asean countries should work with the international community to tap on
their resources and expertise. Both leaders agreed that a
comprehensive long-term solution was needed to prevent the problem
from happening again.

As part of this effort, Dr Yudhoyono said that Indonesia would ratify
the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, under which
members agreed to act to prevent and control burning that may cause
pollution in neighbouring countries.

Mr Lee assured Dr Yudhoyono that Singapore would give Indonesia its
full support, noting that the haze problem was not an easy one to
solve. But he expressed confidence that with Dr Yudhoyono's leadership
and personal attention, Indonesia would ultimately be able to tackle
it successfully.

Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal told The Straits Times that
the President pins high hopes on the environment ministers' meeting
today.

Dr Dino said Dr Yudhoyono had once again apologised for the
inconvenience caused by the haze to Mr Lee, who had written to him
earlier expressing disappointment over the recurrence of the problem.

Yesterday, Dr Yudhoyono thanked Mr Lee for his letter.

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The Straits Times (Singapore)
Friday, October 13, 2006

KL will propose joint fund to help fight fires

Reme Ahmad, Malaysia Bureau Chief

IN KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA plans to ask South-east Asian countries to
set up a joint fund to help Indonesia curb forest fires blamed for the
choking haze in the region.

Speaking ahead of a crucial meeting of environment ministers in
Pekanbaru today, Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the fund
could be used for new equipment and technology.

'We know the source (of the haze) but pointing fingers will not do any
good,' he said. 'The important thing is for these countries which are
receiving the impact of the haze to agree to collaborate and take
positive and effective action to ensure that it does not recur.'

The proposal to set up a fund was endorsed at a meeting of the Cabinet
on Wednesday, but details of the proposed fund were not immediately
available.

At the official level, there is still much concern about the problem,
but environmental watchers worry that the issue will be forgotten once
the latest haze ends, at least until the problem returns with the next
dry season.

Malaysian Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor yesterday
accused the foreign media of being unfair in their reporting on the
haze.

He said most of their reports portrayed Malaysia as the main country
suffering from the haze even though Singapore, Brunei and Indonesia
were in the same boat.

Heavy rain, however, has reduced the official Air Pollutant Index
(API) to normal in most areas in Malaysia.

But this has led to concerns that the problem will be forgotten.

'The problem is that once we don't see it or feel it, we don't do
anything although we know this is just temporary relief,' said Ms
Meena Raman, honorary secretary of Friends of the Earth Malaysia.

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The Straits Times (Singapore)
Friday, October 13, 2006

Nature society formulates plan to tackle problem

NOT content to wait for politicians to come up with a lasting solution
to the smoke haze problem, one green group here has come up with an
idea of its own.

The Nature Society Singapore said yesterday that it is working with
international nature group BirdLife International to see how 100,000ha
of virgin forest in Jambi - that's 1.4 times the size of Singapore -
can be set aside as a nature park.

Jambi, in South Sumatra and the heart of haze country, is now shrouded
in smoke from fires started to clear land and jungle.

Dr Geh Min, Nature Society president and a former Nominated Member of
Parliament, told The Straits Times that people in Jambi will be
encouraged to adopt eco-tourism and sustainable forestry practices as
a livelihood.

Details are still being worked out, but the key was to provide people
who rely on the forests for a livelihood with an alternative source of
income.

In the short term, however, she believes that the haze problem is
likely to get worse before it gets any better, fuelled by high demand
for bio fuels.

'The economic driver behind the haze will come from bio fuels. And the
cheapest way to clear land for oil palms is by burning,' she said.

Other ideas put up by green groups include starting a 'conservation
licence' which people from regional countries can sponsor to ensure
patches of land are preserved, or getting regional countries to
contribute to a fund that can pay for fire fighting services.

But in the short-term, the only way to help clear the air is to step
up enforcement against the fire-starters.

Environmental law expert Alan Tan suggested that the 'burden of proof'
be imposed on plantation owners to 'disprove satellite evidence that
points to their having conducted illegal burnings'.

He added: 'Independent citizen groups can also be set up to monitor
and report on illegal logging and burning activities.

'Companies can be required to provide performance bonds which should
be forfeited in the event of their starting fires.'

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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