By Sujadi Siswo, Channel NewsAsia
JAKARTA: Jakarta has said it is not yet ready to officially disclose names of plantation companies responsible for the forest fires in the country that caused the haze in the region.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Luhut Pandjaitan said releasing the names would create uncertainty within the country.
Speaking to the media in Singapore after delivering a public lecture on Monday (Oct 19), he said Jakarta might consider releasing the names of the companies after they have gone though the legal process in Indonesia.
However, media reports said Indonesia's Environment and Forestry Ministry had revoked the concession licences of several companies responsible for causing forest fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Others had their licences or operations suspended. The companies' names have been mentioned by the reports.
More than 200 plantation companies operating in Sumatra and Kalimantan are being investigated for clearing their land by burning. A number of them are believed to have links to Singapore-based firms.
The Singapore Government has officially requested Jakarta to provide them with the names of those companies. This would allow Singapore to take legal action against those responsible for the haze that has blanketed the city-state and neighboring Malaysia and Thailand.
Luhut Pandjaitan said: “Well, we are not protecting (plantation companies). Like I mentioned earlier, we have not officially submitted the names to the court. So how can we disclose them to the public? It’s unfair. We’ll wait for the court’s final decision."
He added that the Indonesian government also do not want to create an uncertain situation within the country because of this. "Moving forward, they know that they are going to get punished by the government. I think this is very important.
"But next year, we have already given them a clear message: We are going to revoke their licence, no question about that. That I can assure you. They understand that fully.”
- CNA/al
Source: Channel News Asia - Jakarta not ready to name firms responsible for forest fires
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/jakarta-not-ready-to-name/2203338.html
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Isn't the Indo govt's response to releasing the company-names just bullcrap?
"it is not yet ready to officially disclose names of plantation companies responsible for the forest fires in the country that caused the haze in the region."
And the reason given for this stance by the Indo’s Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Luhut Pandjaitan is that:
"..releasing the names would create uncertainty within the country."
What the difference between a normal news report that releases the name of the suspect who has been charged with robbery, and the Indo govt publicizing the list of companies which are being/will be charged for causing the fires/haze??
How does the act of releasing the names "create uncertainty within the country"?
Like the person accused of robbery, these companies will be given their chance in Court to prove their innocence and refute the charges.
Or did Luhut Pandjaitan just unwittingly admit that there are so many govt officials and ministers involved or associated with these companies that to publicize the names would actually be bad for their financial interests/ destroy their voter support / expose their corrupt dealings?
And didn't the Indo Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi inform S'pore that they will soon share with Singapore the names of companies responsible for the illegal forest fires in Sept 2015? (ST: http://www.straitstimes.com/asia/jakarta-to-share-names-of-culprits-behind-haze-fires)
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POSTED: 21 Oct 2015 13:24 UPDATED: 21 Oct 2015 19:00
Carbon from Indonesia fires exceeds US emissions: Green groups
The World Resources Institute, using findings from the Global Fire Emissions Database, said in a recent report that since early September carbon emissions from the fires had exceeded average US daily output on 26 out of 44 days.
JAKARTA: Indonesian forest and agricultural fires cloaking Southeast Asia in acrid haze are spewing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each day than all US economic activity, according to an environmental watchdog.
The shock assessment came as Jakarta said the number of blazes was increasing across the archipelago despite a multinational fire-fighting effort, and announced plans to deploy more water-bombing aircraft.
For nearly two months, thousands of fires caused by slash-and-burn farming have suffocated vast expanses of the region with smog, causing respiratory illnesses to soar, schools to close, and scores of flights and some international events to be cancelled.
Much of the burning is in tropical peatlands rich in carbon but which are being drained and cleared at a rapid rate to make way for agriculture, particularly fast-expanding palm oil plantations.
The World Resources Institute said in a recent report that since early September carbon emissions from the fires had exceeded average US daily output on 26 out of 44 days.
The United States is the world's second-largest greenhouse gas source after China. The WRI, a US-based research organisation that focuses on environment and development issues, normally classifies Indonesia as the fifth-biggest emitter.
"The burning of tropical peatlands is so significant for greenhouse gas emissions because these areas store some of the highest quantities of carbon on Earth, accumulated over thousands of years," said the WRI.
"Draining and burning these lands for agricultural expansion, such as conversion to oil palm or pulpwood plantations, leads to huge spikes in greenhouse gas emissions."
In its report, the WRI used findings from the Global Fire Emissions Database, which uses satellite information to estimate emissions from blazes.
The smog crisis is escalating as world leaders gear up for talks beginning next month on a climate rescue pact, which will seek to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
FIRES SPREADING
The fires and resulting region-wide blanket of smoke occur to varying degrees each year during the dry season as land is illegally cleared by burning, regularly angering Indonesia's smog-hit neighbours Malaysia and Singapore.
Malaysia, which in recent weeks has repeatedly ordered school closures across several states as a health precaution, did so again on Wednesday for the third straight day as pollution levels climbed.
The landmark twin towers in the capital Kuala Lumpur were shrouded in dense, grey smog, with air quality in the "very unhealthy" or "unhealthy" range across much of the country. In Singapore, air quality was in the "unhealthy" range.
Popular Thai holiday islands have also been affected with the haze forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back earlier this month.
While the loudest complaints have come from leaders in relatively affluent Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, it is poor Indonesian villagers who are suffering most.
One of the worst-hit areas, Palangkaraya, on Borneo, has been engulfed in thick, yellow haze, which has drastically reduced visibility and pushed air quality to more than six times "hazardous" levels.
Experts warn the current outbreak is on track to become the worst ever, exacerbated by bone-dry conditions caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.
The fires on the huge islands of Sumatra and Borneo are typically only brought under control by November with the onset of the rainy season.
But Herry Purnomo, a scientist at the Indonesia-based Center for International Forestry Research, told AFP this week that climatology data indicated the rainy season may be delayed this year and that the fires could last until year-end.
Indonesia earlier this month agreed to accept international help after failing for weeks to douse the fires and last week launched its biggest fire-fighting push yet, with dozens of planes backing up thousands of personnel on the ground.
But the national disaster agency said the number of "hotspots" - areas detected by satellite which are already ablaze, or ripe to go up in flames - had risen to more than 3,200 and spread to the eastern Papua region, which is usually largely unaffected by fires.
Authorities hope to deploy a further 10 to 15 water-bombing planes, which will join about 30 aircraft already fighting the blazes. Singaporean and Malaysian aircraft have taken part in the operations, while two Russian planes arrived Wednesday to provide assistance.
- AFP/rw/ec
Source: Channel News Asia - Carbon from Indonesia fires exceeds US emissions: Green groups
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/carbon-from-indonesia/2207404.html?cx_tag=similar#cxrecs_s
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