Governmental Officials Say Smog Will Lift in October
10/9/97
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Headline: Governmental Officials Say Smog Will Lift in October
Source: Reuters
Date: 10/9/97
Author: Lewa Pardomuan
Copyright: Reuters Limited 1997
JAKARTA (Reuter) - Choking smog hanging over Southeast Asia is expected to
lift this month with the beginning of the monsoon season, Indonesian
government officials said on Monday.
And Environment Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said Indonesia would ensure
that the smog, caused by hundreds of out-of-control forest and bush fires,
did not recur in later years.
"Otherwise we are all out of business," he told a news conference.
President Suharto on Sunday repeated an apology for the smog drifting
across Southeast Asia from fires he described as an unprecedented natural
disaster.
The smog has angered people in neighbouring nations, and Indonesia has been
criticised both at home and abroad for what is seen as its slow response to
the crisis.
Sri Diharto, the head of Jakarta's meteorology department, said the smog
would start to lift in the middle of October with the onset of the monsoon,
ending a protracted drought.
He told the news conference that rains would be widespread in the Sumatra
and Kalimantan regions, the site of the biggest bush fires.
Fires across an estimated 750,000 hectares (1.88 million acres) on Sumatra
and in Kalimantan, on the Indonesian side of Borneo island, triggered the
smog which has hit Singapore and Malaysia and drifted as far as Thailand
and the Philippines.
The fires have destroyed plantations and timber forests, causing losses of
about 45.7 billion rupiah ($12 million), and led to the cancellation of
about 3,372 flights because of low visibility, other officials said.
Diharto said efforts to put out the blazes by Indonesian and Malaysian
firefighters had started to bear fruit.
"The number of hot spots in Sumatra and Kalimantan is declining in line
with the rains and the efforts to put out the fires," Diharto said.
He said some rain had already fallen in parts of Sumatra, Kalimantan and
Java, adding that more widespread rains were expected to fall throughout
the archipelago in November.
Kusumaatmadja said most of the fires had been started by plantation
companies clearing land to plant new trees.
"The contribution of small-scale burning (by traditional slash-and-burn
cultivators) is very small," he said.
Asked if political connections of some of the big plantation owners would
hinder any action the government might wish to take, he said: "For the time
being, all connections are off. And I hope forever. I have been given a
free hand.
"Action against these companies is proceeding at a very un-Indonesian
pace," Kusumaatmadja added.
Agriculture Minister Syarifuddin Baharsyah said the fires had hit 242
plantations, mostly rubber and palm oil, on Kalimantan and Sumatra,
covering a total 121,630 hectares (300,550 acres).
"The reports we have received say that most of the fires have been put out,
except those at 10 plantations, which are still burning in areas affected
by land-clearing activities," said Baharsyah, adding his ministry had
summoned 29 companies believed to have burned land to open plantations.
Forestry Minister Djamaludin Soeryohadikusumo said 96,700 hectares (239,000
acres) of natural and timber forests had been burnt, adding that forestry
companies had suffered at least 45.7 billion rupiah in losses.
He said the ministry had so far revoked 154 wood-use licences of companies
for burning forests to clear land. He gave no details.
($1= 3,800 rupiah)