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Issues: RI says it can handle forest fires alone'
Indonesian officials on Thursday denied that they were ignoring international offers to help combat increasing haze problems from forest fires in the region, claiming they would welcome any form of assistance other than manpower to tackle widespread blazes in the eastern part of the archipelago
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em>Indonesian officials on Thursday denied that they were ignoring international offers to help combat increasing haze problems from forest fires in the region, claiming they would welcome any form of assistance other than manpower to tackle widespread blazes in the eastern part of the archipelago. Masnellyarti Hilman, deputy for environmental damage control at the State Ministry for the Environment, said Indonesia was still capable of tackling the forest fires on its own. "If we can deal with it on our own, why do we need to seek help from others?" she said.
Reuters reported Wednesday that Indonesia, home to the world's second-largest area of rainforest, had *appeared to bat away' offers from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei to help deal with the haze problem. State Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar, who held a press conference after attending a ministerial meeting in Singapore, seemed to evade questions from journalists on the matter. He did not pick up his mobile phone when contacted for comment on Thursday. Masnellyarti said Indonesia had asked neighboring countries to provide water-bombing facilities, not fire-fighters, to help with the blazes.
Your comments:
Indonesians lack the political will to remedy the situation. The haze problem seems to bother them the least. Satellite photos indicate these fires are directly linked to land-clearing operations.
Until they are held accountable by neighboring countries, this problem will not go away
Benjamin Tan
Singapore
For Ben Tan, I can empathize with your sentiment, but the quantitative data that is available shows that Indonesia, in the broad sense, suffers far more loss, direct and indirect, than does any other nation.
But those numbers are a bit deceiving because the "loss" does not hit all Indonesians evenly. The winds generally blow the smoke away from Jakarta and Java, and towards Indonesia's poorer, more neglected provinces and its neighbors. Thus, the power brokers in Jakarta do not suffer directly from living with "haze", as do residents of Singapore and KL.
Next, the broad economic losses are weighed against the narrow economic gain of the land-owners, large and small, who are using fire to clear land, and in those cases, the tragedy of the commons often applies: Community interests lose out to the greed of a few. Furthermore, it is important to note that not all the large landowners are even Indonesian.
There was a seminar at NUS on this issue back in October or November 2007, where it was alleged that at least some of them were businessmen and/or companies based in Singapore and Malaysia. It's pretty clear that the issue is very complicated and it will be an enormous challenge for the people of the region.
I wish you all the best of luck in solving it.
Myron Shekelle
US
Why do all those neighboring countries offer to help? Because they have suffered equally from the haze that the fires and burning in Indonesia has produced. If indeed Indonesia has the capability, why is that these fires continue to rage, forcing certain airports to close.
Some provincial government officials have admitted they could not do much because they have no money. That shows how seriously Hilman and the minister regard this problem. So Jakarta does not need firefighters from those countries, but only the equipment and tools.
If water bombers are planes or helicopters, surely the helping countries want their own pilots to fly them. But equipment and material sent for that purpose may end up rotting in some warehouse given the attitudes of Jakarta officials.
Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and Brunei can continue to "enjoy" this present from Jakarta.
I really wonder why we need to spend money on fruitless meetings.
Majeed
Kuala Lumpur
Indonesia's neighbors are showing their commitment to the environment by offering to help Indonesia solve the perennial forest fire issue. The main issue in Indonesia is a lack of political will - as it is more economical for large powerful land owners to clear their land by forest fire than by any other more ecologically friendly means.
Even with real-time satellite pictures provided for free by neighboring countries, Indonesian officials are unable to see the forest fires in their backyard! It is probably more profitable for the government officials to look the other way than to antagonise the powerful land owners in their provinces!
Anthony
Sydney
