F

ire in Kalimantan became a national issue as soon as smoky haze covered the entire island of Borneo. Many people, especially newborn babies and the elderly, are suffering from it and many victims are dying. People wake up every day to smoke. Coughing, sore eyes, bronchus infections are the order of the day. When will it be over?

Thousands of hectares of forest are destroyed every day. What is it behind this? Has money blinded us so? We do not realize that we have broken the chain of energy the world has provided us. We have destructed the balance that nature provides us.

Even though forest fires happen naturally at some point (because of the heat during the dry season), some people whose vision is narrow and short deliberately start fires to clear land, which means opening land for agricultural purposes; in this case, palm oil plantations and mining are the main drivers.

Corporations from Malaysia, Singapore, China and India are the ones to blame. Did you know that oil palms can only survive 25 years before reaching a height where they have to be cut down and replanted?

Meanwhile, each tree absorbs up to 60 liters of water a day and all the humus and soil nutrients, meaning no other plants can be planted around. Imagine the impact if oil palms were planted in thousands of hectares.

The government must take action rather than wait for the worst to come. We ordinary people put our hope in the government, which holds the power to come up with the best solution.

Maulana Malik
Volunteer at Saving Balikpapan Bay
Balikpapan, East Kalimantan