Experts Call for Jakarta to Face Court Over Smog
8/6/99
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Title: Experts Call for Jakarta to Face Court Over Smog
Source: Reuters Limited
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 6, 1999
Byline: Claudia Gazzini
JAKARTA, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Residents wore masks to keep out a choking
smog from forest fires in Sumatra on Friday, as environmental
monitors called for Indonesia to face an international court over
what is becoming an annual disaster.
An official at an Indonesian environmental watchdog called on
Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei to take Indonesia to court for this
year's smoke cloud, which has blanketed much of Southeast Asia in a
scene reminiscent of 1997's tragedy.
Severe fires that year, mainly lit by farmers and logging companies
clearing land, caused a choking smog that smothered Indonesia's
neighbours, damaging tourism and sending visibility plunging.
Most of the smoke came from Sumatra and Indonesia's Borneo provinces.
Forestry experts said this year's fires in the Indonesian part of
Borneo were spreading rapidly and the situation there could soon be
worse than in Sumatra. Fires were also reported in Sarawak, on the
Malaysian part of Borneo.
``Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei have to think about taking Indonesia
to the International Court of Justice for the lack in its political
awareness,'' said Longgena Ginting, co-ordinator for forest advocacy
at the independent Walhi watchdog.
He accused Jakarta of doing nothing to curb the fires and condemned
its policy of clearing forest land for plantations.
``The government must declare that land clearing has to stop.''
On Friday, light rains slowed the spread of the fires in Sumatra. But
experts said that rain was unlikely to put the fires out because the
temperature of the flames was too high, exceeding 1,000 degrees
Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) in some areas.
Satellite images showed less than 200 hotspots in Sumatra -- each
representing an area of fire. Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of
Borneo, was covered in cloud which hindered satellite imagery, but
environmental watchdogs said they believed the fires were spreading
rapidly, aided by the dry season there.
In the most badly affected area, Sumatra's Riau province, many
residents wore masks. In Minas town, about 950 km (570 miles)
northwest of Jakarta, residents said the smog enveloped most parts of
the town till noon.
``Last week the smog would go away by around nine but for the past
few days it stays on the ground until midday,'' one government
official told Reuters by telephone.
He added the situation was reminiscent of 1997's fire disaster.
Prevailing winds have blown the smoke from Riau and surrounding areas
east to nearby Singapore and peninsular Malaysia.
Shipping sources in Singapore and Malaysia said smog was a major
potential problem. Visibility could be reduced to a only a few
hundred metres, similar to 1997's levels.
``In a narrow strait, especially the Malacca Strait, it can be a
problem,'' a maritime expert in Malaysia said.
If the smog becomes thick again, shipping authorities would not be
able to do much more than issue warnings to ships navigating the
strait, the expert said.
In Malaysia, opposition politicians decried a government decision not
to release details of the Air Pollution Index, used to measure air
quality.
Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding has shrugged off the criticism
and accused foreign news organisations of using the data to scare
away tourists.
Experts say that although a lot of changes have been made on paper
from the great fires of 1997 and 1998, implementation on the grounds
remains weak. A lot of half-burned vegetation is providing easy fuel
as the dry season goes on.
Experts have forecast the fires could go on till October, when the
dry season is due to end, and have accused the government of
President B.J. Habibie of being preoccupied with his bid for a second
term as president.