Angry Southeast Asia Is Trapped Under an Umbrella of Pollution : Jakarta Apologizes for Raging Fires 
International Herald Tribune
September 17, 1997
Michael Richardson 

Amid increasing concern from nearby countries, President Suharto of Indonesia apologized Tuesday for a series of uncontrolled fires that have blanketed a large part of Southeast Asia in smoke that traps pollution and threatens the health of millions of people.

But officials of the Association of South East Asian Nations warned that drought in Indonesia caused by the weather phenomenon known as El Nino and difficulties in enforcing a recent Indonesian government ban on using fire to clear land meant that the problem could worsen and extend well beyond the normal end of the dry season next month, and possibly into 1998.

They said that smoke and smog had affected up to 20 million people in Indonesia alone, with throat inflammations and diarrhea.

The pollution issue threatens to strain the normally cordial relations among ASEAN members as Indonesia is pressured to take more effective action by other countries affected by the smog — Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

But the issue could also prompt closer cooperation and tougher action to curb pollution, analysts said.

Opening a meeting of ASEAN environment ministers in Jakarta, Mr. Suharto said that Indonesia was doing its "level best to prevent and overcome the ongoing bush and forest fires raging in our country." He added: "To the communities of neighboring countries who have been disturbed by the fires in our territory, Indonesia offers its most sincere apologies."

The environment ministers from Malaysia and Singapore both called on outside countries with fire fighting expertise to assist.

Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia sent a letter to Mr. Suharto expressing deep concern about the fires, The Associated Press reported from Jakarta on Tuesday.

The smoke is also affecting air travel in the region, with eight airports in Indonesia closed or suffering serious flight delays because of poor visibility.

Hundreds of forest and scrub fires, many of them deliberately set by companies that want to clear land for plantations and industrial estates, have been burning out of control for weeks, mainly on Indonesia's two largest islands, Kalimantan and Sumatra.

Indonesian officials estimate that 300,000 hectares (740,000 acres) have been blackened, further depleting the country's tropical forests, the largest in the world outside Brazil.

Huge clouds of smoke have blocked out the sun in some parts of Indonesia and prevailing monsoon winds have carried the haze over Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei, where it has prevented transport and industrial pollution from dispersing, causing air pollution levels to soar.

The Malaysian Environment Department said the pollution briefly reached hazardous levels in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday. Residents walked the streets in an eerie twilight with handkerchiefs and masks pressed to their faces.

The U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has set guidelines for its 200 employees and their dependents, and some 3,000 Americans living in the capital area.

It encouraged people to stay indoors, limit exercise, wear surgical masks and drink plenty of fluids.

Singapore has warned the elderly and the ill to stay indoors.

The Indonesian environment minister, Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, has blamed big forestry and plantation companies, as well as settler farmers, for lighting the fires.

The forestry minister, Djamaludin Suryohadikusumo, said the government could revoke the operating licenses of at least 50 companies it suspects of starting fires.

But critics said that the Indonesian authorities had been ineffective in halting the fires partly because many of the companies involved in the burning to clear land for development had close connections to the government, armed forces and bureaucracy.

The Jakarta Post has reported that there were hundreds of forestry companies in Kalimantan and Sumatra, "but until now only two have had their license revoked" despite the fact that such offenses had been committed since 1994.

"These companies must possess influence to challenge the authorities," the paper said. "Their influence could only come from political connections."

Mark Harrison, business services manager at the Regional Institute of Environmental Technology in Singapore, said the smoke pall from Indonesia was only one more factor to aggravate pollution arising from Southeast Asia's rapid industrialization.

"What we're dealing with is a photo-chemical smog," he said in an interview with Reuters. "Calling it a haze as we have done for so long is the typical softly, softly Asian approach. I think it's time to be more robust about dealing with the problem. We're probably looking at a pollution problem in Asia like we had in Europe in the 1950s and '60s which promoted various Clean Air Acts."

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