President Suharto Repeats Apology for Smog
10/5/97
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Headline: President Suharto Repeats Apology for Smog
Source: Reuters
Date: 10/5/97
Author: Jim Della-Giacoma
Copyright: Reuters Limited 1997
JAKARTA (Reuter) - Indonesia's President Suharto on Sunday repeated an
apology to other nations in the region for the choking smog drifting across
Southeast Asia from bush fires he described as an unprecedented natural
disaster.
He called on members of the country's 500,000-strong armed forces (ABRI) to
increase efforts to fight the bush fires which have been aggravated by a
crippling drought.
"I instruct all levels of ABRI to increase again the mobilisation of their
abilities to overcome this fire disaster," Suharto said in his annual Armed
Forces Day speech.
"The thick smoke not only hurts our own community but also people from
neighbouring countries. For that, once again, Indonesia deeply apologises,"
he said, as smoke haze from fires in central and eastern Java drifted
across the capital.
Officials from other nations in the region plan to issue smog masks to team
members participating in the Southeast Asia Games opening in Jakarta next
weekend.
The smog has badly hit Singapore and Malaysia and has drifted as far as
Thailand and the Philippines, sparking health alarms through the region.
The government estimates 20 million Indonesians are affected.
Gerhard Putman-Cramer, head of a United Nations team assessing the
disaster, told Reuters about 5,000 ABRI members had joined about 33,000
forest rangers and civilian volunteers and more than 1,000 Malaysian
firefighters in combating the fires.
The troops so far involved appear to be locally-stationed soldiers ordered
into action by regional commands. The air force and navy has also been
involved in logistics and cloud-seeding operations in a bid to induce rain
without much apparent success.
Two Australian water-bombers are expected to arrive on Tuesday for use
against smaller fires in east Java. A number of other countries and
intermational organisations are providing assistance ranging from pumps and
face masks to money and expertise.
Reuters photographer Jason Reed, reporting from Sumatra, said about 50
Indonesian troops had moved into a logging camp south of the smog-hit
provincial town of Jambi as 52 Malaysian firefighters moved out to head
further south on Sunday.
One soldier said they would remain for two weeks to monitor the situation
in the area after two large fires which had burned over 1,000 hectares of
land (2,500 acres) had been controlled.
The soldier said he badly wanted to see his wife and after 16 weeks on the
road.
The airport at Jambi, a timber and commodities centre of about 265,000
people on the bank of the river Batanghari, has been closed for six weeks.
Nur Mohammad, acting manager of the town's largest hotel, the 89-room
Novotel, said the occupancy rate was now 65 percent, up from only 28
percent two months ago with a number of local people moving in to take
advantage of the air conditioning from homes lacking the facility.
The air conditioners, however, still pour smog into the rooms and there is
no need for artificial fog in the fourth-floor discotheque -- the smoke is
already in the air.
Visibility was poor again on Sunday, and hundreds of small black birds
circled overhead, apparently disoriented by the smog.
A 21-year-old student said he was selling paper face masks he had bought
for 60 rupiah (about two U.S. cents) from a local pharmacy for 1,050 rupiah
(28 cents) on the street. Most people in Jambi are using masks, but they
are rarely seen in villages.
The smog has angered people in neighbouring nations, and the Indonesian
government has been criticised both at home and abroad for what is seen as
its slow response to the crisis, which international bodies has described
as an environmental disaster.
The fires have been blamed on timber firms, plantations and small farmers
burning off brush to clear land ahead of the monsoon rains, which are
running dangerously late this year due in part to the El Nino weather
phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean.
On Friday, the forestry ministry revoked the licences of 29 companies for
fire setting.
Only drenching rain can extinguish burning peat underlying the forest and
bush in Sumatra and on Borneo Island and blamed for the worst of the smog
with its high carbon content.
Some rain has started to fall in Sumatra and Kalimantan in areas lying
north of the equator following seasonal changes in wind patterns.
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) estimates some 740,000 hectares (1.8
million acres) of land has been burned over or is burning.
But experts weather experts also say that the monsoon when it arrives is
likely to bring torrential rain after the drought which will in turn cause
floods and serious soil erosion that in turn will destroy coastal coral
reefs, one of the glories of the vast archipelago stretching 5,000 km
(3,000 miles) along the equator.
The tourist industry says it has been badly hit through Southeast Asia. The
official Antara news agency on Sunday quoted a senior tourism official as
saying it would be a miracle if Indonesia was able to attract the minimum
target of 5.5 million tourists this year.