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Multinational efforts tackle haze
Resources contributed by neighboring countries in the region have begun making their way to regions suffering the most from fires that have destroyed 1
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esources contributed by neighboring countries in the region have begun making their way to regions suffering the most from fires that have destroyed 1.7 million hectares of forest and land in the archipelago and have cost the country an estimated US$14 billion.
Singapore started deploying its personnel to Sumatra, where 45.9 percent of the fires located.
'Indonesian authorities provided clearance [to Singapore] last night. This morning a Chinook and two
C-130s took off ferrying men and equipment to fight the fires in Palembang,' Ng Eng Hen, Singapore's defense minister, said Saturday.
The Chinook helicopter carried a 5,000-liter heli-bucket, which is a water dispenser slung underneath the aircraft.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said the Chinook helicopter and C-130 Hercules airplanes from Singapore landed in Palembang, South Sumatra at 11 a.m. .
'They are currently being briefed by the disaster mitigation chief and the water bombing will start immediately after that,' BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Saturday.
Earlier on Friday, a CL415 Bombardier amphibious aircraft and crew arrived from Malaysia to join in the mitigation efforts, Sutopo said.
'This evening, one Dolphin helicopter with four crew members will also arrive [from Malaysia],' Sutopo said. 'The Malaysian team will be stationed at Pangkal Pinang and will carry out water bombing in the Selapan and Air Sugihan regions, Ogan Komering Ilir regency, South Sumatra.'
The Indonesian government initially insisted it would not accept help from other countries to battle the forest fires.
However, the smoky haze from the land-clearing fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan has been exacerbated by the current dry season caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, with NASA warning it is on track to become the worst man-made disaster of its kind on record.
The hazardous haze has forced the closure of thousands of schools, grounded hundreds of flights and caused transboundary air pollution to affect Indonesia's neighbors.
Faced with these grim predictions, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo finally sought help from Singapore, Russia, Malaysia and Japan to put out the fires on Thursday. The President plans for all fires to be extinguished within two weeks.
'Japan and Australia have contacted us in preparation to send assistance,' Sutopo said, adding that Singapore and Malaysia will operate for two weeks only.
Besides deploying assistance, Singapore is also taking legal action that could lead to massive fines against Indonesian companies blamed for the fires, including multinational Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).
APP was asked by Singapore's National Environment Agency to supply information on its subsidiaries operating in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as measures taken by its suppliers in Indonesia to put out fires in their concessions.
APP is part of Indonesia's Sinar Mas conglomerate, one of the world's largest pulp and paper groups. It publicly upholds 'sustainability' and forest conservation as core principles. Its products include stationery and toilet paper.
Last week, the biggest supermarket in Singapore, NTUC FairPrice, withdrew from its shelves all paper products sourced from APP, which has corporate offices in Singapore, as it was among those companies under investigation by Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) over the forest fires in Indonesia.
The NEA temporarily disallowed APP's products from receiving a 'green label' certification. The banned products include tissue and other toiletry products.
The Association of Indonesian Forest Concessionaires (APHI) said it was unfair for the Singaporean retailer to withdraw APP products from its shelves, believing it had stepped over law enforcement in Indonesia.
'We're talking about a country, which means that a country has to implement the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Legal processes [taken by the Indonesian government] are still going on,' APHI legal and communication department coordinator Yuki Wardhana told reporters on Saturday. 'The government [of Indonesia] should have responded firmly [against the action of the Singaporean retailer].'
In a press statement, APP Singapore promised to release all the information needed and it would invite Singaporean authorities to visit its sites and concessions so that the authorities could directly inspect the company's operations in Indonesia.
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