NEIGHBOURS TURN UP THE HEAT ON JAKARTA OVER HAZE CRISIS
Regional anger is mounting over the annual forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo, which have been worse this year By Annabelle Liang and Vijay Joshi
For weeks now, the quality of life in southern Thailand and other parts of Southeast Asia has been left to sheer chance — the direction of the wind. Every day, it alone determines which city will be shrouded by peaty white smoke blowing from burning forests in Indonesia.
Like neighbours who must tolerate the bad habits of the family next door, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand have endured the annual problem of smoke that stings the eyes, irritates the throats and shuts down schools and airports. Now their patience is wearing thin and harsh words are flying across the borders in a departure from the region’s non-confrontational etiquette.
“We all see it, breathe it; and there is no hiding,” former Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong wrote on Facebook.
Early last week, Prime Minister Prayut Chano-cha ordered the Foreign Ministry to work with neighbouring countries to tackle the problem, as seven of 14 southern provinces struggled with the haze.
Narathiwat, Pattani, Satun, Songkhla, Surat Thani and Yala provinces have all been cloaked in thick haze, but none more so than Phuket, where airborne particulate matter has been recorded at more than 50% above levels considered safe.
The Foreign Ministry also held a meeting with the Indonesian ambassador in Bangkok on Thursday, at which a regional approach to combating the forest fires was discussed.
Thai officials will also raise the issue for discussion in an Asean senior officials’ meeting in Kuala Lumpur, and plan to do the same again in the Asean Ministerial Meeting on Environment in Hanoi on Oct 27-29.
But that has done little to allay public anger in places like Phuket, where the provincial health office has warned people to stay indoors.
“As a precaution, children, the elderly and people with respiratory conditions can receive free Nexcare [face] masks,” the office’s director Dr Bancha told local media. “Other people should not need masks, but we still urge all people to stay indoors and especially not to exercise outdoors at this time.”
In Songkhla, dozens of locals protested against the haze at the Indonesian consulate. They said more and more people in the southern province are suffering from health problems because of the smog.
“The level of pollution has increased in the last few days and many people including children are sick,” said Banchorn Vichiensri, who led the protest.
FEELING FED UP
Some days, the smoke is so bad that the gleaming skylines of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur disappear in an all-encompassing greyness.
More than 7,000 schools in peninsular Malaysia were shut on Monday and Tuesday, forcing about four million students to stay home. Fifteen final races at the Swimming World Cup meet in Singapore were cancelled last week. Tourists are staying away. Respiratory problems are on the rise.
Some have tried to make light of the situation, including wedding couples in Singapore who have commissioned haze-themed photo shoots against famous backdrops.
“Indonesia needs to keep to its commitments. Regionally, countries are getting fed up that Indonesia is not coordinating this very well,”
said Reuben Wong, a political science professor at the National University of Singapore.
Scientists predict the haze this year is on track to surpass 1997 levels when pollution soared to record highs in an environmental disaster that cost an estimated US$9 billion in health costs and lost revenue. A bad bout of haze resembles wintry fog, but laced with tiny particles of ash that are particularly harmful to the elderly, children and those with chronic heart and lung conditions.
“The damage this time when the haze finally runs its course is expected to be high,” said Euston Quah, a professor and head of the economics division at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, who has studied recent fires and plans to look again at all the affected countries, including Indonesia.
“We must continually estimate and show the damage is not only to Singapore, Malaysia and other neighbouring countries, but also to Indonesia itself, which includes the loss of goodwill. The damage to Indonesia must be huge.”
The smog has shrouded Singapore and Malaysia for weeks and is likely to manifest in fewer tourist arrivals as some countries are starting to send travel warnings, which might affect hotels and retail spending, according to Chua Hak Bin, an economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Singapore. “The health costs might rise exponentially if the haze worsens and persists for a long period,” he said.
The worst haze in 1997 cost Singapore $300 million, while a milder event in 2013 led to about $50 million of losses to retailers, hotels, tourism and the economy overall, according to Mr Quah’s research.
The impact may go beyond tourism to impact the broader economy. A protracted and severe haze may delay construction projects and slow factory output, according to Weiwen Ng, a Singapore-based economist.
WELL-KNOWN CULPRITS
According to the Indonesian National Institute of Aeronautics and Space, a total of 1,687 fires are burning in Sumatra and in Kalimantan, a province on Borneo island.
The culprits are well-known. Big corporations set fire to forests every year to clear land speedily so the peaty soil can be planted with row upon row of trees that will be eventually harvested for paper pulp and palm oil. Oil palm plantations earned revenue of $18.5 billion in Indonesia last year.
“For them, burning the forest is the fastest, cheapest and most profitable method instead of clearing with heavy equipment,” said Raffles Brotestes Panjaitan, the director of forest fire control in Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry. “Our regulation is clear — no burning of forests — but they violate the law for the sake of profits.”
He said that the intentional burning, especially on peat land, and the absence of rain because of the El Nino effect have worsened the fires this year. He described the burning ground as a vast smouldering stove with coal burning up to 10 metres deep.
The Indonesian government says more than 191 individuals and 47 corporations are under investigation. The licence of one company has been revoked and three others suspended and 72 people have been arrested.
Singapore’s largest supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice last Wednesday pulled toilet paper and other products sourced from Asia Pulp & Paper from its shelves after the company was among those named responsible for the forest fires.
“We initiated meetings with the various parties concerned when the list of firms, including APP, was named by the authorities as suspects for contributing to the haze,” said Seah Kian Peng, chief executive officer of NTUC FairPrice.
DIPLOMATIC SPAT
The Indonesian government has deployed 22,146 soldiers, policemen and fire personnel in six provinces to fight the fires, with aircraft conducting water-bombing and cloud-seeding operations. Another 6,000 soldiers are expected to be deployed soon.
In September last year, Indonesia ratified a regional agreement under which it promised to take steps to ease the problem through its own efforts and with international cooperation, or be held liable for the impact of haze on its neighbours.
But a long-term solution is not around the corner. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has pleaded for patience, saying the haze is “not a problem that you can solve quickly”. He added: “You will see results soon, and in three years, we will have solved this.”
The crisis led to a diplomatic spat of sorts when Vice-President Jusuf Kalla said neighbouring 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?” he wrote on Facebook.
In Malaysia, a deputy minister suggested the government should seek compensation from Indonesia for financial losses, saying Malaysian street vendors saw their businesses plummet 30% in a month.
“It is ridiculous for them not to solve this problem,” Chew Mei Fun told national news agency Bernama.
“Children can’t go to school. At the same time, nobody will come to visit Malaysia.”
But while the fires are burning in Indonesia, its neighbours do share some responsibility. Some of the oil palm plantations conducting slash-and-burn work are owned by Malaysian and Singaporean companies, according to research by the non-profit Centre for International Forestry Research.
“There are no easy solutions,” said Heng Yee Kuang, an associate professor of international relations at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. “There needs to be better data collected on who is actually causing the forest fires.”
Neighbouring countries] already enjoy 11 months of clean, fresh air from Indonesia JUSUF KALLA INDONESIAN VICE-PRESIDENT