Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Claims by the Indonesian authorities about serious efforts being made to stem plantation fires in Sumatra are being challenged by environmentalists who say that legal action is doomed to fail.

Officials believe the threat of stiffer penalties on companies will deter them from using fires as a preferred method of land clearing, but acknowledge that the long arm of the law is still very short.

So short in fact that out of the 40 companies suspected of starting fires in the last week, only one has been investigated. "Yes we are not yet strong enough with forest fire detection, the police investigators are still learning how to prosecute," said Mr Djoko Setyono of the Forestry Department's Conservation Division.

Officials from the Sumatran Environmental Agency say that of the 40 companies found to have hotspots or fires on their land, 30 are palm oil plantation firms and the other 10 are forestry companies.

Both critics and officials from the environmental agency point out that trying to get tough with the companies is painfully slow. And at the rate investigations are going it would take a recently-appointed special investigation team almost a year just to collect evidence against the 40 companies suspected of starting land-clearing fires.

Environmentalists say the threat to send errant companies to court has not had the intended effect – and as such is no different from threats made in response to the disastrous fires of 1997, which led to most of the region covered in haze for weeks. "This effort is the same as during 1997. We know when and where the burning occurs. If the government really wants to stop the burning there is only one way and that is to stop opening up land," said Mr Djoko Waluyo from environment group Walhi, referring to the fact that plantation and logging licences are still being issued. "They have to punish any company known to have fires on their land by withdrawing their licence."

The Forestry Department's Mr Djoko blames a lack of funds and equipment on the slow reaction from Jakarta and Riau to act against the guilty plantation firms. But the millions of dollars worth of reforestation funds that have disappeared, suggest lack of money is not the real reason.

Environmentalists say it is too much money, in the hands of corrupt officials, combined with Indonesia's uncoordinated slow-moving bureaucracy that is the root of the problem. Mr Djoko of Walhi claims that corrupt officials in Riau have demanded money in order to divert investigations into the burnings.

The deteriorating air quality in Riau has forced the closure of several schools and both forestry and Environmental Agency officials admit that there is no coordinated team to fight the fires.

Only one team of 500 forest rangers and community volunteers has been sent to fight some of the fires in state forest reserves, said Mr Siregar, from the Environmental Monitoring Agency in Medan. He also said that air quality in Medan had improved yesterday, as winds had blown away much of the haze.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted Foreign Ministry officials as saying that Indonesia would support discussion of the haze issue at next week's meeting of Asean Foreign Ministers in Bangkok.