Jakarta/Medan – The authorities say they are trying to identify companies responsible for the current forest fires in the Sumatra region which have caused choking haze in neighboring Malaysia.
A joint team comprising staff from the Ministry of Forestry and police officers flew on a chartered airplane on Thursday night to a number of areas in North Sumatra to investigate the forest fires there, particularly in the protected Padang Lawas forest, South Tapanuli.
Minister of Forestry Malam Sambat Kaban said on Friday in the North Sumatra capital city of Medan that the team, led by Luhut Sihombing from the Natural Resources Conservation Agency, has found several hot spots in the province and on the border with Riau province.
Kaban said there were indications that the forest fires in North Sumatra were deliberately lit by companies for land clearing purposes. Around the Padang Lawas forest, for instance, there are areas that have been planted with oil palms.
Acrid haze continued to blanket parts of Malaysia on Friday, blown by winds from forest fires in North Sumatra and Riau. Many of the fires were believed to have been set by farmers, plantation owners and miners trying to clear land. Hot, dry weather was also a major factor contributing to the blazes.
The areas hardest hit by fires are Padang Lawas forest, around Lake Toba in Simalungun regency, and Labuhan Batu, Mandailing Natal and Karo regencies. In Riau, meanwhile, hot spots have mostly been detected in the Rokan Hulu region.
Data from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) in Polonia, Medan, showed a total of 547 hot spots were found across North Sumatra and Riau.
Concerned with the haze problems, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has discussed the issue with Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. "The President is very concerned as the haze has disrupted activities on the Malaysian peninsula as well as flights in Kuala Lumpur," said presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal.
"Firm action will be taken against those responsible," he said But taking action against big companies operating in forest areas may be easier said than done.
Head of North Sumatra Forestry Office Prie Supriadi said that the Office has yet to be able to identify the responsible parties for the forest fires, particularly at Padang Lawas, as a large number of companies operate there.
"It's difficult for us to catch who did it because there is no evidence," Prie told The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs spokesman Marty Natalegawa said that the government hoped member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) would support efforts to deal with the forest fire crisis.
"Governments of Indonesia and Malaysia are coordinating to overcome the haze problems. I'm sure other members of ASEAN are concerned with these problems and eager to help," Marty told reporters on Friday.
Regional cooperation in this case is very useful, he added, in increasing Indonesia's national capacity in preventing the forest fires in the long term.
ASEAN actually has a coordination mechanism through the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution that has been in place since Nov. 25, 2003.
The agreement, Marty said, has been ratified by six ASEAN member countries: Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar and Vietnam. Indonesia, on the other hand, has signed the agreement but has yet to ratify it.
"The ratification process has been going on for quite a long time. It might be submitted to the House of Representatives in the near future," he said.