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Fires in Indonesia Cause Ecological Crisis

Posted on: Saturday, 13 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

KULIM, Indonesia - Palm oil farmers have used fire to clear their land of tall grass, shrubs and trees for years, without any idea that the noxious fumes caused problems in neighboring Malaysia or anywhere else.

Farmers, plantation owners and miners have set hundreds of fires in the last 11 days, taking advantage of the dry season to clear land.

"I don't see what choice I have," said Kirun, 36, as he cleared a five-acre plot on Sumatra Island, where manmade forest and brush fires have burned for more than a week.

"This will have to be cleared and planted with oil palm and rubber trees by next month," said the farmer, who only uses one name, and burning is the cheapest and fastest way to do that.

Indonesia local fire departments - short of fire trucks and other equipment - have been battling forest fires with buckets of water and garden hoses. So far, they have refused offers of help by other Asian nations.

Across the narrow Strait of Malacca, the haze caused by the fires has precipitated Malaysia's worst ecological crisis since 1997. Schools have been closed, and hospitals filled with patients complaining of respiratory ailments.

On Saturday, Malaysians saw a clear and sunny sky for the first time in days, and the government lifted an emergency imposed on two areas this week. But anger mounted against Indonesia for failing to control the man-made forest fires causing the pollution crisis.

About 50 members of the opposition Democratic Action Party demonstrated noisily outside the Indonesian Embassy in Malaysia's main city of Kuala Lumpur on Friday, demanding compensation from Indonesia.

"We are breathing in poison every day. Things have never been this bad," DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng said.

The yellowish opaque haze reached its peak on Thursday when pollution levels exceeded hazardous levels over the Klang Valley, comprising Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital Putrajaya, Port Klang and other cities.

An emergency declared in Port Klang and Kuala Selangor, a tourist spot, was lifted Saturday, the national Bernama news agency said.

But the improved visibility is "temporary," said Wong Teck Kiong of the Malaysian Meteorological Department. "It will definitely be back if the wind direction changes again," he said.

The department has said no respite was expected until October, when rains would help wash away the haze, a mixture of dust, ash, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide.

And while President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says he's taking the problem seriously, local officials are complaining about a lack of resources, and people lighting fires say they had no idea it was prohibited.

Palm oil farmers in Kulim, a village 90 miles east of Riau's provincial capital Pekanbaru, said they have never received complaints from local forestry or environmental officials.

"We've been clearing land like this for generations," said Surip, 38, a palm oil farmer who also uses a single name. "That is the only way and so far, we've been neither counseled nor reprimanded."

Asked whether they know that the smoke has affected neighboring Malaysia or surrounding areas, he said: "We never heard about that."

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Associated Press Writer Vijay Joshi contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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