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Indonesia
to Use Artificial Rain to Fight Haze
By
IOL Southeast Asia Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, Aug. 24 (IslamOnline) - Indonesia is preparing to create
artificial rain through cloud seeding to overcome the choking haze
that has enveloped most of its provinces of Kalimantan on Borneo and
Sumatra, news reports said on Saturday.
The
haze is threatening Malaysia, Singapore and other parts of Indonesia,
other sources told IslamOnline on Friday and Saturday.
Indonesia’s
Research and Technology Minister, Hatta Radjasa said to Antara that
his ministry was prepared for such a move but said it would be taken
as the last resort due to the high cost involved.
Indonesia
does not have the capital power to produce artificial rain and could
have recourse to expertise and funds from both Malaysia and Singapore,
sources said.
"We
have to calculate very carefully as the cost is very high. But if we
have to do it, we are always prepared," he said to reporters.
The
haze continued to wreck havoc in the affected region with many flights
being cancelled or rescheduled over the last several days due to poor
visibility especially in the morning and late afternoon.
Malaysia
had to cancel flights to Sabah and Sarawak, two of its states on the
Borneo Island. Indonesia occupies the other part of the Borneo Island,
where Kalimantan is.
Indonesian
environmentalists as well as Malaysian officials have criticized
Jakarta for doing nothing to cope with forest and ground fires that
persisted on Friday in Kalimantan and Sumatra, sending choking haze to
neighboring countries, the Jakarta Post reported on Saturday.
"The
government has not taken appropriate steps to deal with the forest
fires. Worse still, it blames traditional farmers and loggers for
starting the fires," Longgena Ginting, director of the Indonesian
Forum of Environment (Walhi) said on Friday in a statement to the Jakarta
Post.
He
pointed out that based on data as of Aug. 18, 2002, there were 4,000
hot spots in West and Central Kalimantan.
Most
of the hot spots were seen in industrial timber estates and
plantations belonging to forestry concession holders, he said.
"Today
the accumulation of hot spots has reached more than 30,000, causing
the smoke over Kalimantan and neighboring countries," he
explained.
Four
years ago, a huge cloud of smoke had invaded the region, covering
Singapore, Malaysia and a large section of Indonesia with smog. There
were fears that the haze could damage the health of the citizens of
these countries.
In
1997 and 1998, choking haze caused by fires here blanketed parts of
Southeast Asia for months, causing serious health and traffic
problems, disrupting airline schedules and costing those countries an
estimated US$9 billion.
Malaysia
and Singapore, as well as Australia sent fire fighters and other
assistance to Indonesia, which was then still embroiled in the
“reformasi” or reforms movement in Jakarta.
Indonesian
officials at that time blamed illegal loggers for the fire. They said
Malaysians and other nationals penetrated its territories to steal
logs and started fires that became uncontrolled.
"In
addition to not enough equipment, we are also facing difficulties
getting water to help extinguish the raging fires because rivers here
have dried up," Kusnun, a forestry official in Central
Kalimantan, told DPA news agency.
Environmentalists
from Singapore and Australia, however, decried the lack of safety
measures in Indonesia’s huge Kalimantan forests. Indonesia does not
have the necessary equipment to fight the fires, they said.
Indonesian
forestry and government officials in Kalimantan acknowledged on
Thursday that they lacked equipment and sufficient water to fight
forest and cropland fires that are covering the island in haze.
Walhi,
however, blamed the Indonesian government for its failure to enforce
the law against companies who used slash-and-burn methods to clear
land.
Nevertheless,
officials of the West Kalimantan forestry and plantation office and
the environmental impact management agency (Bapedalda) said local
farmers mostly started the fires.
Suwardi,
head of the meteorology and geophysics office in Pontianak, claimed
that the local authorities could not stop local farmers living around
Pontianak from burning scrub to clear land.
Although
the area was still ablaze, visibility improved in some areas on
Friday, but schools remained closed and many people still wore masks
or had to go to health clinics for smoke-related ailments.
Meanwhile,
Malaysian Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding wants to meet with his
Indonesian counterpart Nabiel Makarim to discuss the problem.
Makarim
was quoted on Thursday by Antara, and said that Malaysia,
Thailand and Singapore were upset with Indonesia for ruining the air
quality in their countries, but said it was not as serious as 1997 .
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