Asean still fiddling as Sumatra burns

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EDITORIAL
Asean still fiddling as Sumatra burns
The Nation

Haze is spreading across the region once again as companies slash and burn to create plantations; we need collective action to snuff out this annual problem

BANGKOK: -- It arrives every year around this time, when dry weather prompts people in Indonesia's Sumatra to burn forest and scrub to make way for plantations. Fires send plumes of smoke into the air, where wind - sometimes storm force - blows it across the region.

Neighbouring Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand are blanketed in a choking haze that leaves millions at risk of health problems. Worsening air quality brings suffering in the form of acute respiratory tract infections to thousands. It also threatens disruption to all types of transport in the region - land, air and sea.

Last week, media reported that haze is already spreading from forest fires in Riau, Indonesia, just across the Malacca Strait from Singapore and Malaysia.

Singaporeans are living in fear, as the number of hot spots across Sumatra grows by the day. More than 450 have so far been detected and the haze might worsen this week, depending on wind strength. Fires increased sharply from 30 in early January to 248 early this month, according to the Indonesia National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

In Dumai, Riau, pollution has reached an alarming level, with the Ambient Air Quality Monitoring programme showing a level of 449 on the Pollutant Standards Index.

Asean countries are well aware of this environmental issue. Leaders, ministers and senior officials have sat down together many times to address the problem of haze. They have committed to cooperate to tackle the problem in the short, medium and long terms. But so far, action has been little and rare.

Asean has agreements and plans to handle this regional issue but implementation has been tangled in domestic red tape and the interests of the palm oil industry.

Indonesia, the source of the problem, has not done enough to control the situation. Its government has allocated 1.5 trillion rupiah (more than Bt4 billion) to forest-fire management this year but still cannot guarantee the haze will not reach neighbouring countries. Authorities in Jakarta have also urged the private sector to help, but have not made it clear how it could contribute to anti-haze efforts.

Police have charged six people for burning forestland in Riau province's Bengkalis, Indragiri Hilir and Pekanbaru, but there must be many more fire-starters still at large. However, even arresting them all would not solve the problem.

This is because the root cause of the fires is not individuals but huge plantation companies. Last year, Indonesian police arrested 33 people over forest fires that broke out between June and July. Two of the suspects were Malaysians who worked as managers at a plantation company; they are now standing trial at the Pelalawan District Court.

Asean and its members - especially those close to the problems and causes of the haze - cannot simply point the figure at Indonesia. They must do more themselves to solve the annual crisis. Many instruments to tackle this issue already exist, but the regional grouping needs to seek genuine solutions by utilising them effectively.


-- The Nation 2014-02-18

[daoyai]

Why not arrest the plantation owners and palm oil execs? Follow the money.

[chainarong]

Why not arrest the plantation owners and palm oil execs? Follow the money.

The corruption out of Indonesia is on a scale equal to none , after you spend sometime there you soon realize that Thailand is not as corrupt as Indonesia, it is rampant, it could be said , out of control, the only one's that say it isn't of course is the government , that's very similar to Thailand, in that respect

[RickBradford]

Exactly.

The Indonesian authorities lack the power and in many cases the will-power to do anything about the activities of the super-powerful businessmen who run the country and are responsible for much of the burning.

With so much money to be made out of producing palm oil for making biodiesel, it's inevitable that somewhere around a million hectares per year is being cleared for plantations in Indonesia, and the easiest way is to clear land is set fire to it.

Singapore and Malaysia regularly put in token complaints, but know that the Indonesian government can't or won't do anything about it. I doubt that ASEAN will do any better.

I was in Singapore throughout the vile 1997 haze, which went on for months, and it was bloody unpleasant.

[focus27]

Will Thailand invite ASEAN to sort out the same problem in Chiang Mai and northern Thailand? And Burma and Laos too at the same time?

Thought not!

[Seastallion]

A worldwide embargo on Indonesian palm oil is what is needed. SE Asia may be worried about a haze, but the rest of the world is worried about deforestation.

[rogerdee123]

What does ASEAN really do well ? ...... hmmmm ....

any ideas?

[bra]

I lived 10 years in KL and went through some of the worst haze periods - my company had to evacuate expat wives and children - but most of course cant get away. The situation is made worse in the dry season due to relatively stable atmosphere with a temperature inversion at about 10000 ft or so. This keeps all the haze below this height, and often on a departing flight when climbing you will pop of the murk into a relatively clear sky at about 10000 ft, then descend into it when arriving. When the wet season comes the atmosphere becomes unstable again, with no inversion, and the haze can dissipate to higher altitudes. Rain "washes" the atmosphere then too.

[tomyummer]

A blanket of lava over the whole country sounds good about now. For enriching the soil of course.

[tomyummer]

What does ASEAN really do well ? ...... hmmmm ....

any ideas?

Make hubs out of everything?

[Cloggie]

Let buy a ship and load it with old car tyres, bring it to Indonesia and if the wind comes from the north - set it on fire, let them feel what is is to live in smoke.

Ban Indonesian planes from using airspace and airports in Singapore / Malaysia and Thailand.

[Garry]

What does ASEAN really do well ? ...... hmmmm ....

any ideas?

Experts in being able to procrastinate on a daily basis

[oztaurus]

What does ASEAN really do well ? ...... hmmmm ....

any ideas?

Yes, what has ASEAN ever done for us?

A little Monty Python relevance?

[tomross46]

Why not arrest the plantation owners and palm oil execs? Follow the money.

The corruption out of Indonesia is on a scale equal to none , after you spend sometime there you soon realize that Thailand is not as corrupt as Indonesia, it is rampant, it could be said , out of control, the only one's that say it isn't of course is the government , that's very similar to Thailand, in that respect

Yes, but Thailand is working hard to become more corrupt. The government wants it to be the HUB of corruption.

[expat888]

A good peek into the future. ASEAN will be as about effective as the UN. No one will pay attention to them.

[Jonmarleesco]

Also an annual, and more localised problem, in Chiang Mai. There's a great deal of mai pen rai, damn all action, and much of it is down to a need for better education, not so much of the perpetrators as those whose health is directly affected and who need to start loudly shouting at their representatives. Plus, of course, a lack of government backbone.

[Jonmarleesco]

A good peek into the future. ASEAN will be as about effective as the UN. No one will pay attention to them.

More in common with he EU than the UN, and the EU is effective in a number of areas, though still with the interests of certain groups or countries, uppermost.

Edited February 18, 2014 by Jonmarleesco

[bigbamboo]

Come to Chiang Mai, the air is wonderful up here!

[espinoza]

They shoul not blae it on the Indonesians. The reason we are caught in smoke here in isaan is the Thais have to much money. They prefer to burn their fertilizer they got for free, and instead buy new fertiliser. They have enough money every year to do this. Some of the Thais worry because of their living age. They do not see that in connection to all the smoke they breath every day. Thainess is about not looking further in the future than your nose sticks.

[ya5702]

Time for the ASEAN Ministers to meet again for a Conference at a seaside resort to set up a task force to study this problem. Don't you love these bureaucrats!