Sept 19, p5

Haze returned to almost all parts of West Sumatra on Friday after thinning for three days following rain over much of the province, forcing the Malaysian government to evacuate its citizens from Riau.

A Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) station in Bukit Koto Tabang, Agam regency, reported that as of 12 p.m. on Friday the air quality in the region was '€œunhealthy'€. The conditions worsened until 1 p.m. and persisted as of 2 p.m. although on the previous day the air quality had been reported to be good.

Station staff member Alberth Nahas said there were two factors that had brought the haze back to West Sumatra. First, he said, burned land that had caused haze in southern parts of Sumatra was still dry, meaning forest and land fires could not yet be dealt with thoroughly. Second, there might have been differences in air pressure between two air layers close to the surface.

Your comments:

How about putting a 150 percent tax on palm oil like the government does for all imported alcoholic spirits '€” maybe lower consumption of Indonesian palm oil products a bit.

Joyoboyo

OK, folks the smoke has reduced since yesterday afternoon. And today'€™s visibility has improved greatly. Today the sun is shining brightly. I guess there is not much left to burn. So let'€™s save our energy on this topic for next year and the years to come.

Abu-Abu

Well. Non-Javanese Indonesians are second-rate citizens. The Javanese government could not care less.

FlagShare

As late as the 1990s, Riau was one of the most biodiverse places on earth, with herds of Sumatran elephants, gibbons, siamang and even woolly Sumatran rhinoceroses. The lowland jungle was then systematically cleared and turned into dismal oil palm plantations.

During former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s first term, corrupt officials pocketed huge sums by allowing illegal loggers from neighboring countries to clear the jungle and export it as logs. Riau is now a hot, dusty, sun-baked hellhole, with the peat swamps periodically catching fire. The worst forestry management on earth.

Lasem Benny

I consider myself very fortunate, as I happen to have the following precious works in my possession: Dr. Felix Kopstein'€™s Een Zoölogische Reis door de Tropen, written in the early 20th century; Dr. AH Blaauw'€™s De Tropische Natuur (1917); and J. Hendrik van Balen'€™s De Dierenwereld van Insulinde, published in the early 1920s.

In all these great works, which also contain an abundance of pictures and photographs, the authors lovingly and meticulously described the riches of our Indonesian flora and fauna and the beauty of our environment. These books are among my favorites.

But upon reading again what these dedicated authors wrote about the abundant wealth of flora and fauna they found here in Indonesia, I can only feel an immense sadness, as those books describe a past that can never be resurrected. And I can only conclude, in grief and horror, that, after Aug.17, 1945, we, Indonesians, have done a superb job in callously destroying the nature that the Creator has blessed Indonesia with.

No wonder so many environmental calamities and natural disasters are now occurring. Nature is fighting back.

Firepooch

This is embarrassing. Indonesian authorities must learn how to apologize not only to those 120 Malaysians but to all people of Indonesia for their failure to anticipate and control the fires because these forest fires happen again and again every dry season.

Officials at the Forestry and Environment Ministry must learn from the Japanese to resign from their jobs every time they fail to perform and invite US park rangers to solve the problem.

Robby Kaware

You could cut and paste the actions of the government every single year and for a number of years to come.

At the beginning, a few isolated fires are spotted, no action. A few more, nothing happens. A little bit of haze starts to appears in Sumatra, still no action. Haze starts to cross over borders, no action. Haze starts to thicken, one or two eyebrows are raised, and someone mumbles we should do something.

The haze is now in full force, closes more than 13 airports, schools are closed overseas, visibility in Malaysia is below 1,000 meters, and now the police want to catch the culprits. Now Indonesia can claim it is doing something about it?

Rendang

Like I said time and time again, get rid of the corruption and everything will fall into place, neatly and naturally. The haze would be gone, Jakarta people could drink river water, traffic gridlock would be a distant memory and the streets would be clean.

Corruption is still not recognized as a crime and those caught scarcely get a slap on the wrist! To deter corruption, the law should be changed so that sentencing is removed from judges'€™ discretion and becomes mandatory.

Pauloh

I am just curious how Malaysia is going to do that when the airport is still closed.

AA

What a '€œslap in the face'€ to Indonesia! Malaysia is actually evacuating its citizens to protect them from deadly smog and Indonesia has done little to nothing to protect its own citizens. The world watches as do potential investors.

Willo

So we now know how much the Indonesian government values the health of its citizens '€” they don'€™t even want to admit there is a problem, issuing stupid laughable statements like:

1. Indonesia will solve burning problem in 30 days... in 30 days everything that was targeted for burning has been burned so what is there to solve anymore?

2. We do not need Singapore'€™s help as it is manageable by our people.

3. One Malaysian company is among those suspected of causing fires'€¦ still trying hard to put the blame on Malaysian companies. What about the other 39 of the 40 suspects?

SM

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