T.M. Alamsyah, head of the Environmental Impact Management Agency in Riau province, warned yesterday that smog triggered by the illegal fires had reached an alarming level in Riau and other Sumatran provinces."We have found 163 fire spots in Riau alone as of Monday. Now, fire spots are also being detected in the provinces of North Sumatra, Jambi and Lampung," Alamsyah said.

Antung Deddy of the Environmental Management Agency (Bapedal) said evacuations may be necessary in some areas along the border of Riau and North Sumatra because pollution has reached very dangerous levels.

"The ISPU (air pollution index) reached 397 on Saturday. That means that residents must get ready to wear masks. If rains do not fall in the next few days and there are no signs of the fires subsidising, we may have to evacuate the residents," Deddy said.

Riau province and North Sumatra are located to the west of Peninsular Malaysia across the Malacca Strait.

Officials and activists have blamed plantation firms, which often use slash-and-burn techniques banned under environmental laws to clear land, for the latest fires which have raised air pollution to hazardous levels in parts of Riau.

In some cases fires started on plantation lands have then spread to neighbouring forested areas.

"We found that 80 percent of the fires were started by plantation companies, mostly oil palm plantations. They use slash and burn methods because it is cheap and easy," an official at the Forestry and Plantations Ministry told Reuters.

The official declined to identify the plantations.

PLAY DOWN FEARS

Indonesia has played down fears the fires would cause a repeat of Southeast Asia's smog crisis in 1997, but also admitted there was no strategy for extinguishing the blazes.

More than five million hectares (12.35 million acres) of forest, plantation and land in Indonesia were razed by fires in 1997.

The resulting smog blanketed large swathes of Indonesia, neighbouring Singapore and parts of Malaysia for weeks. It also spread to Thailand and the Philippines.

Several plantations contacted by Reuters in Riau province denied they were using fires to clear land.

Longgena Ginting of the Indonesian environmental group Walhi said weak enforcement of the laws prohibiting such burning left plantation and timber firms with little to fear.

Some of the plantation companies are small, others are major operations with strong political and military connections.

Earlier this year Jakarta threatened plantation owners with penalties of up to 15 years in jail for illegally using fires to clear land, but it was unclear if any had faced prosecution.

"Companies continue to practise these illegal techniques because there is no legal action taken by the government against those responsible," Ginting said.

"The government and security apparatus are too afraid to take action against powerful plantations and timber companies."

POLITICAL WOES

Part of the problem stems from the political and economic mess that bedevils Indonesia's government, whose attention is focused on numerous other woes.

In addition, the country's security forces are stretched thinly across the vast archipelago as they battle separatist tensions and widespread communal violence that has killed thousands.

Last week, President Abdurrahman Wahid ordered Forestry and Plantations Minister Nur Mahmudi Isma'il to set up a task force to prevent a repetition of the 1997 fires.

Isma'il has promised tough action, but environmentalists remain sceptical.

"Promises to take stern action... are hollow jargon that has been used for over two years. People want real action, not empty promises," Ginting said.

"The government should bring those responsible for burning the forests to court. Unless this happens, we will see forest fires happen every year." Error: Unable to read footer file.