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Text your say: Govt under fire for slowness in handling haze
Your comments on the governmentâs slow move in dealing with forest and peatland fires and the haze that is disrupting life at home and in neighboring countries:The government should put out the fires by whatever means possible
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strong>Your comments on the government's slow move in dealing with forest and peatland fires and the haze that is disrupting life at home and in neighboring countries:
The government should put out the fires by whatever means possible. It should swallow its narrow national pride and accept whatever help it can get to put these fires out in the shortest time possible. These fires have been appearing for too many years and is making a laughing stock of all Indonesian efforts.
Taco Immanuel De Vries
SMS
It's not only that Indonesia should accept foreign governments' offers to help to put a lid on the problem of haze, but also the right to do so especially from our neighboring countries because their companies also make business here in our forests and on our land and there are of course individuals that make all this happen, the land and forest fires.
There will be no smoke or haze if there are no fires, as the saying goes, 'no fire no smoke'.
E. Nurdin
The crisis led to a diplomatic spat of sorts when Vice President Jusuf Kalla said neighboring countries 'already enjoy 11 months of clean fresh air from Indonesia' and shouldn't complain about one month of haze.
K. Shanmugam, a Singapore Cabinet minister, called the comment 'shocking'.
'How is it possible for senior people in the government to issue such statements, without any regard for their people, or ours, and without any embarrassment, or sense of responsibility?'
It's a very fair question to ask. I would add to it how the Vice President also supports 'hoodlums', claiming that violence is required from time to time to get the job done.
Clearly with these claims the Vice President should be shunned not only by the people of Indonesia but also the international community. Yet it is a clear example of the mindset running the country.
Chiko Zu
Not knowing the cause of the fires is why we Indonesians have until now not been able to put out the forest fires.
My engineer died in Kalimantan mysteriously, as if sleeping among the debris of the forest while waiting for a helicopter to fetch him the following morning. The team found him lifeless yet without any apparent cause of death.
One time I remember a lost mountain climber was found dead without any apparent cause.
This makes me think that something is causing these mysterious deaths. These mysteries finally cleared up when I learned that dairy farmers use the gas emitting from the debris of their dairy farms for heating purposes in their kitchens as well as lighting in the evening.
The debris accumulated in trash bins in fact produces not only organic fertilizer but also a gas which is odorless and colorless, called CH4 methane gas.
Unlike the presence of gasoline which can be easily detected, CH4 is totally undetectable. This seemed to be the cause of death of our engineer in Kalimantan.
Our forests fire problem and most probably also those in Australia, America and China can only be prevented if and when the continual presence of CH4 can be properly managed before causing the undetected form of perennial forest fires.
Unless we thoroughly understand this situation, I really doubt we can comprehensively put out our forest fires. At this time a smart entrepreneur should approach the government to request a monopoly on the use of the forests' CH4. Or the government could simply order Pertamina to go about the situation to prevent the uncontrollable forest fires occurring any further.
Moeljono Adikoesoemo
