Malaysian Firemen Help
Indonesia To Fight Blazes
August 16, 2005 — By Bazuki Muhammad and Muklis Ali, Reuters
SUBANG, Malaysia/JAKARTA — Malaysia
sent a team of 100 firemen to neighbouring Indonesia on Monday to help
douse forest fires that have blanketed the region in noxious haze.
The fires, many deliberately lit on Indonesia's Sumatra island to clear
land for agriculture, are once again testing relations between the two
Southeast Asian neighbours after the smoke caused Malaysia's worst
pollution crisis in eight years.
For a week until Friday, when a wind change and some rain cleared
Malaysian skies, smoke from Sumatra had plunged some areas into a
gasping semi-darkness, threatening public health, disrupting shipping,
grounding flights and closing schools.
As the 100 firefighters left on the short flight from Subang military
airbase outside Kuala Lumpur, a relatively light haze could still be
seen on Malaysia's far northwest coast, bringing moderate air pollution
to some popular beach resorts.
Malaysia sent 25 search and rescue personnel along with the firefighters
as well as 29 tonnes of firefighting equipment. The search and rescue
workers will help with firefighting unless needed for those in danger.
Australia is sending a team of up to 12 bushfire experts to Sumatra to
help deal with the fires. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the
Indonesian government has asked for help from Australia and the team
would travel to Indonesia this week.
PLACING BLAME
Malaysia, fearing a return of thick haze if the fires are not
extinguished, has said Indonesia needs to take quick action when fires
start because of the serious impact on neighbours.
"They need to take quick action as Malaysians are actually dying because
of the haze," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told the New Sunday
Times in an interview.
His Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda said on Monday that Indonesia
was concerned about damage to neighbouring countries from the haze, but
working together to put out the fires was better than trying to place
blame.
"I think that is the more proper way than to criticise each other.
Action speaks louder. We have enough regulation already. It is the law
enforcement that matters," the Indonesian foreign minister told
reporters in Jakarta.
In 1997, haze from mainly Indonesian fires blotted out skies across
Southeast Asia. The fires are a perennial irritant, with Indonesia urged
to act more quickly and Malaysian firms accused in turn of being part of
the problem.
Malaysia complains Indonesia has yet to ratify a regional agreement
aimed at controlling forest fires in Southeast Asia, while Indonesians
blame Malaysian-owned palm-oil plantations both in Indonesia and in
Malaysia for contributing to the haze.
Malaysia is the biggest producer of palm oil and, during drier weather
at this time of year, plantion-owners sometimes flout bans on open
burning to clear land to plant new trees.
FIRES SPREADING
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has ordered his
commodities minister, Peter Chin, to determine if any Malaysian firm was
behind the forest fires in Indonesia. Chin is due to meet Malaysian
plantation firms in Indonesia on Tuesday.
Indonesian Forestry Minister Malem Sambat Kaban before meeting President
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reiterated the criticism of those firms.
"It was those palm plantation companies who did it. They clear the land
by burning. We have the proof," he told reporters.
Malaysia had earlier said Jakarta had not backed the rhetoric with a
list, but after meeting Yudhoyono, Kaban named eight Malaysian companies
as suspects.
"It's obvious. They are not allowed to do any burning, it has to be done
with zero burning. They will be punished," he said.
In Sumatra's Rokan Hilir regency, where some of the worst fires have
been blazing, forestry official Yusman said the situation was not
getting any better.
"The hotspots are reduced (in number) but due to high wind they have
spread," he told Reuters by telephone.
(Additional reporting by Barani Krishnan and Mark Bendeich in Kuala
Lumpur and Ade Rina in Jakarta)
Source: Reuters |