Ministry looks into working with Indonesia to fight fires causing haze

Indonesian authorities have identified 198 individual suspects in forest and land fire investigations and processed 97 police reports involving companies. (EPA Images pic) PUTRAJAYA: The plantation and commodities ministry is to study a proposal to strengthen cooperation with Indonesia in preventing and controlling forest and land fires, including information sharing and efforts to prevent and control fires in Kalimantan.

The ministry said it viewed seriously reports by Greenpeace and Pantau Gambut which implicated Malaysian plantation companies in forest and land fires in Indonesia.

It said discussions were held with six Malaysian companies on Sept 10 to obtain information on the fires and the preventive and control measures in place in their operating areas. Regular feedback was also obtained to monitor developments.

On reports implicating an Indonesian subsidiary of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Bhd, the ministry said it had taken note of KLK's official explanation on Oct 6 that the company adheres to a zero-burning policy and does not undertake replanting activities. It said most of the fires originated outside its concession areas.

Indonesian authorities have identified 198 individual suspects in forest and land fire investigations and processed 97 police reports involving companies as part of efforts to tackle fires that have also resulted in haze in Malaysia, the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur said today.

It said Indonesian police were handling 247 reports involving individuals, while the environment ministry had identified 57 business entities with burned concession areas across eight provinces.

The areas covered 33,514 hectares, of which 29,700 hectares were in Kalimantan involving 41 businesses, 3,813 hectares in Sumatra involving 16 business entities.

Administrative sanctions were imposed by the forestry service on 26 parties, including the revocation of five business permits, the suspension of 13 permits, and eight written warnings or restoration orders, the embassy said in a statement.

A total of 46 legal entities were also reported to be involved in criminal cases, with 17 at the preliminary inquiry stage and another 27 under investigation, including five companies and 22 individuals.

The statement added that the Indonesian government was continuing to intensify fire suppression operations to minimise the impact of transboundary haze. The government had mobilised military personnel, police, forest fire brigades, disaster management agencies and community volunteers.

Weather modification operations, water bombing, peatland rewetting and land preparation without burning were also being carried out as part of these efforts.