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Text your say: Burning issue

Your comments on the failure of the government in handling the forest and peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, while smoke and haze continue to prevent students from attending school and disrupt flights in the region:To prevent peat fires in Sumatra, the local governments should show their great integrity

The Jakarta Post
Sat, October 18, 2014

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Text your say:  Burning issue

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our comments on the failure of the government in handling the forest and peat fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, while smoke and haze continue to prevent students from attending school and disrupt flights in the region:

To prevent peat fires in Sumatra, the local governments should show their great integrity.

It means that they should be free from the interests of business people and focus on the interests of the people.

Sinaga Harbili

So the government still doesn'€™t know what to do to solve the problem?

Glur Mahendra

They should stop following NATO (no action talk only).

Makamba Tecumseh

I think the government officials in charge of this issue should be fired from their positions, they should be prosecuted as criminals and sent to prison, and they should be replaced with more competent people.

We are counting on president-elect Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo to make things right.

I also believe that Singapore and Malaysia should sue Indonesia over this tragedy.

Philippe Marland

These thousands of hectares of rainforest have disappeared faster than a Formula I race car, making way for the many oil palm plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan and causing annual smog not only in Indonesia but also in neighboring states like Singapore and Malaysia, disrupting economic development as aircraft cannot land or take off due to poor visibility.

On top of that, the population'€™s health is deteriorating.

Many people now suffer from asthmatic problems.

The government should force oil palm plantation owners to build giant incinerators to burn non-producing oil palms when replanting is imminent.

This occurs annually, so the smog problem is never resolved. In the meantime, oil palm plantation owners reap billions of dollars from palm oil exports.

Indonesia is the number one palm oil exporter in the world.

Blaming poor, small-time farmers for causing heavy smog from their slash-and-burn practices is utterly ridiculous.

Many farmers do not own land anymore, they had to sell their land to these plantation owners and now work as coolies for these unscrupulous businessmen.

Lynna van der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor, West Java

I truly expect the incoming president to seriously tackle the recurring peat fires and arrest fire-starters.

Living in the modern world of rapid change and new technology, a huge nation like Indonesia should be widely praised and respected for taking good care of its citizens'€™ health.

All doctors know the haze is not doing the sufferers any good, especially babies and the elderly.

Tant KT

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