Malaysian experts to survey Indonesia forest fires
Date: 23-Sep-02
Country: MALAYSIA
For the past six weeks, bouts of haze from forest fires, mainly from Indonesia's Kalimantan province on Borneo, have affected other parts of Southeast Asia.
Haze blanketed the Malaysian capital city, Kuala Lumpur, and other areas of the peninsula, causing visibility in Penang state to fall to three km from the normal 10 km (6.2 miles).
Bernama said a team of Malaysian experts would visit Kalimantan next week following a meeting between the country's Science, Technology and Environment Minister Law Hieng Ding and his Indonesian counterpart Nabiel Makarim at this month's Earth Summit in South Africa.
"I will meet my counterpart, Nabiel Makarim, in Pontianak on September 27 to discuss related issues ahead of a Malaysian team which will be brought to the site concerned," Law told Bernama.
Pontianak is the capital of west Kalimantan province, where thousands of people had been treated as a result of the smoke that polluted the air and water.
Periods of smoke or haze, which blanketed parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in 1997 and 1998, cost the regional economies $9 billion, mainly in agriculture, transportation and tourism.
Conservationists have long criticised Jakarta for failing to protect its natural resources. Indonesia admits its laws are too weak to deal with the problem and is promising reform.
The fires, triggered by both land clearing and slash-and-burn farmers, create health and environmental problems every year.
Law, who had earlier sent a letter urging Jakarta to take more stringent measures to manage forest in Kalimantan, said a follow-up action by Malaysia would depend on the outcome of his meeting with Makarim. Bernama gave no further details.
Malaysia's government officials said this week smoke from forest fires in Sumatra was expected to affect the northern states of Penang, Perak and Kedah in the next few days.
Earlier this year Malaysia banned open burning, even barbecues, with exceptions made for cremations and destroying animal carcasses, following a spate of forest and scrub fires around the country and in Indonesia.
