Indonesia arrests nearly 200 over raging forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, September 16, 2019

The fires -- usually started by illegal burning to clear land for farming -- have
unleashed choking haze across Southeast Asia (AFP Photo/ADEK BERRY)

Indonesia has arrested nearly 200 people over vast forest fires ripping across the archipelago, police said Monday, as toxic haze sends air quality levels plummeting and sparks flight cancellations.

Jakarta has deployed thousands of personnel to battle blazes that are turning land into charred landscapes and consuming forests in Sumatra and Borneo islands, where thousands of schools have been shut over health fears.

The fires -- usually started by illegal burning to clear land for farming -- have unleashed choking haze across Southeast Asia, triggering diplomatic tensions with Indonesia's neighbours.

On Monday, authorities said they had arrested some 185 people suspected of being involved in activities that led to out-of-control fires sweeping the country.

"Indonesian Police will enforce the law against anyone who is proven to have carried out forest and land burning, whether it was done intentionally or through negligence," National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters in Jakarta.

Indonesia's peat fires: a smouldering problem (AFP Photo/John SAEKI)

"This is a last resort. The most important thing is prevention."

Four corporations were also being investigated, he added.

Last week, Indonesia sealed off dozens of plantations where smog-belching fires were blazing, and warned that owners -- including Malaysia and Singapore-based firms -- could face criminal charges if there was evidence of illegal burning.

Some of the most serious fires occur in peatlands, which are highly combustible when drained of water to be converted into agricultural plantations.

Thick haze in Borneo -- where air quality levels have plummeted to "dangerous" levels in some areas -- caused the cancellation of about a dozen flights Sunday, national airline Garuda said.

Rival Lion Air said about 160 Borneo flights had been affected at the weekend.

Meanwhile, nearly 150,000 people have been treated for acute respiratory infections linked to the haze in recent months, according to Indonesian health authorities.

Nearly 150,000 people have been treated for acute respiratory infections 

linked to the haze in recent months (AFP Photo/Str)

While forest fires are an annual problem, the situation this year has been worsened by drier weather in Indonesia, with diplomatic tensions soaring as toxic smog drifts over to neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore.

The haze pushed Singapore's air quality to unhealthy levels for the first time in three years at the weekend.

In 2015, Indonesia suffered its worst forest fires for almost two decades, which dramatically increased its greenhouse gas emissions.

Huge fires tearing through the Amazon are also compounding concerns about the long-term impact of such blazes on keeping global temperature levels stable.

Related Article:

Singapore air 'unhealthy' ahead of F1 race

Singapore air 'unhealthy' ahead of F1 race

Yahoo – AFP, September 14, 2019

Singapore may continue to experience hazy conditions over the next few days,
the environment agency warned (AFP Photo/Roslan RAHMAN)

Singapore (AFP) - Pollution from forest fires in Indonesia pushed Singapore's air quality to unhealthy levels for the first time in three years on Saturday, the government said, a week ahead of the Formula One night race in the city.

The toxic smoke caused by burning to clear land for plantations is an annual problem for Indonesia's neighbours, but has been worsened this year by particularly dry weather.

"There has been a deterioration in the haze conditions in Singapore this afternoon," the National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a statement.

"This was due to a confluence of winds over the nearby region that led to more smoke haze from Sumatra being blown toward Singapore," it said, referring to one of the Indonesian islands where fires are raging.

The NEA said the pollutant standards index (PSI) worsened to 112 in parts of the island Saturday night.

An index reading between 101-200 is considered unhealthy, with residents advised against doing prolonged strenuous exercises outdoors.

Singapore may continue to experience hazy conditions over the next few days, the agency warned.

The city-state of 5.6 million people was shrouded in a thin white haze, with a few residents seen wearing face masks, but there was no major disruption to daily activities.

The F1 race is scheduled from Friday to Sunday on a street circuit in the Marina Bay financial district.

Singapore GP, the Formula One organisers, said the possibility of haze is one of the potential issues covered in their contingency plan for this year's grand prix.

"The plan was formulated and refined with stake holders, government bodies and the Formula One community," Singapore GP said in an emailed statement.

"In the event that the haze causes visibility, public health or operational issues, Singapore GP would work closely with the relevant agencies before making any collective decisions regarding the event."

Neighbouring Malaysia has also been affected by the smoke, with air quality in parts of the country including the capital Kuala Lumpur reaching unhealthy levels over the past few days and triggering a diplomatic row with Jakarta.

In 2015, the index reached "hazardous" levels of more than 300 in Singapore, forcing the closure of schools. Indonesian forest fires were the worst in two decades that year, firing up smog that blanketed large parts of Southeast Asia for weeks.

Indonesia punishes firms over deadly forest fires

Yahoo – AFP, December 22, 2015

Indonesia is punishing more than 20 companies in an unprecedented move for
starting deadly forest fires that killed 19 people (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

Jakarta (AFP) - Indonesia is punishing more than 20 companies in an unprecedented move for starting deadly forest fires that killed 19 people, a government official said Tuesday.

Three companies have been shut down permanently after having their licences revoked over their role in the blazes that choked vast expanses of southeast Asia with acrid haze and cost Indonesia $16 billion.

It is the first time the government has revoked company licences over forest fires, an annual occurrence caused by slash-and-burn land clearance.

The environment ministry also froze the operations of 14 companies and said they face closure if they do not meet the government’s demands over fire prevention.

Several other companies have been given a strong warning and will be put under close supervision.

"We have sanctioned 23 companies in total, ranging from administrative sanctions to license revocation, while 33 others are still in the process, they could have their licenses revoked too if they are found guilty," environment ministry official Kemal Amas told AFP.

The ministry has been investigating 276 companies in total since the fires broke out in September.

Three companies have been shut down permanently by Indonesia after having

 their licences revoked over their role in the blazes that choked vast expanses of 

southeast Asia with acrid haze (AFP Photo/Adek Berry)

"We need firmer law enforcement so that this catastrophe does not repeat itself, it’s been going on for 18 years but nobody has learnt their lesson," Amas said.

Amas said the ministry was also working hard to restore the forests and farmland destroyed in the fires.

Activists welcomed the government’s new commitment to punish firms.

The Indonesian Forum for Environment said it was unheard of for the government to revoke licences, as many companies previously avoided facing trial.

"The minister has the courage to not only freeze the companies' operation but also chase the owners in a civil case, this is great and this must be guarded carefully," Kurniawan told AFP.

"In the past some people were named suspects, but for them to actually lose their licenses, this is the first time," he said.

More than half a million people suffered acute respiratory infections in Indonesia because of the haze, while many in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia also fell ill.

Joko Cuts Short US Trip to Deal With Fire, Haze Crisis

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, October 27, 2015

President Joko Widodo inspects a firefighting operation on burning peat forest in
Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan, on Sept. 24. The president has cut short
 his inaugural visit to the United States to coordinate a response to the worsening
forest fires. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has decided to cut short his first official visit to the United States as a forest fire crisis blazes out of control back home.

“The president has received recent updates from the minister for politics, legal and security affairs minister regarding the haze that has affected more Indonesian people,” Arrmanatha Nasir, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told the Jakarta Globe late on Monday.

He said Joko and part of his delegation would immediately return home on Tuesday after attending scheduled events in Washington, D.C., where the president met with President Barack Obama, congressmen and US executives on Monday.

Joko’s return means he will not attend much-anticipated meetings with technology executives from Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others. Representing him in Silicon Valley instead, Arrmanatha said, will be the communications and trade ministers, as well as the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Arrmanatha said the president would fly to either South Sumatra or Central Kalimantan once he arrives back in the country. Both provinces are among the hardest hit by forest fires generating intense volumes of health-threatening haze.

A top legislator earlier on Monday lashed out at the president for going abroad just as the fire and haze crisis worsens. Up to three-quarters of Indonesia is affected to varying degrees by the haze.

Related Articles:

Indonesia fires can't be put out, Malaysian minister warns
Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Abbugao, 9 Oct 2015

A worker waters a field as downtown buildings are shrouded in smog in
Singapore on October 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore (AFP) - An umbrella group of local and foreign banks in smog-hit Singapore has urged members to make "sustainable development" part of their lending requirements, stepping up pressure on companies linked to land-clearing fires in Indonesia.

The 158-member Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Thursday issued guidelines for the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss among the criteria for approving commercial loans.

The move came in the wake of fires illegally started to clear land for plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, which have shrouded Singapore and Malaysia in acrid smoke since early September.

"The banking sector in Singapore wants to play a bigger role in driving responsible business and long-term sustainable development," ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon said in a statement.

The smoky haze has also reached the popular Thai holiday islands of Phuket and Samui, forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back.

Palm oil and pulp and paper companies are believed to be the main culprits behind the use of burning to clear massive tracts of land for their plantations, but prosecution by Indonesian authorities has been rare, prompting affected countries like Singapore to resort to economic pressure.

Singapore's biggest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, this week withdrew from its shelves all paper products sourced from Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which has corporate offices in the city-state.

The company's suppliers are suspected of starting forest fires in Indonesia.

The Fullerton Hotel is blanketed in thick haze, in Singapore, on September 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Related Articles:

Singapore moves against Indonesian firms over haze
Malaysia shuts schools as choking smog worsens

Malaysia shuts schools as choking smog worsens

Yahoo – AFP, 4 Oct 2015

Thick haze covers Kuala Lumpur, on September 29, 2015 (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Malaysian authorities on Sunday ordered most of the country's schools shut for two days because of possible health risks posed by the thick haze from Indonesian forest fires.

The education ministry said all schools, except a handful in outlying areas, must close their doors on Monday and Tuesday.

"The haze that is happening is beyond our control," said Education Minister Mahdzir Khalid.

Persistent smog has afflicted large 

swathes of Southeast Asia for weeks,

 sparking health alerts, numerous 

school shutdowns and affecting

flights (AFP Photo/Abdul Qodir)

"This issue has to be addressed wisely and quickly as it can do harm to our children. We will not compromise with anything that may bring harm to our children in schools."

The persistent smog has afflicted large swathes of Southeast Asia for weeks, sparking health alerts, numerous school shutdowns and affecting flights.

The pollution is on track to be the worst on record, surpassing the $9-billion damage recorded in 1997.

Close to half of Malaysia's 52 pollutant monitoring stations around the country registered "unhealthy" air quality on Sunday.

Six stations, including one in Kuala Lumpur registered "very unhealthy" levels, with one area in the outskirts of the capital hovering close to the "hazardous" level.

While Malaysia, Singapore and large portions of Indonesia have for weeks choked on pungent smoke from forest fires on Sumatra Island, the Philippine island of Cebu also suffered its seventh straight day of haze on Saturday.

Monsoon winds blowing northeast from the Indonesian blazes could have carried the smog, state weather forecaster Romeo Aguirre told AFP.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Sunday he hoped Indonesia could discuss long term measures to tackle the crisis.

"We hope its commitment is not only on paper or mere statements pleasant to the ears, but through implementation which could end all haze problems," he was quoted as saying by Bernama.

The worsening haze has also affected key sporting events in the region.

The Singapore leg of the FINA World Championships -- swimming's World Cup -- which included four-time US Olympic gold medallist Missy Franklin, was called off.

One of Malaysia's biggest marathons set for Sunday was also cancelled because of health fears for the 30,000 runners, and local football league matches have been shelved.

Related Article:

Singapore moves against Indonesian firms over haze

Singapore moves against Indonesian firms over haze

Yahoo – AFP, 26 Sep 2015

The Fullerton Hotel is blanketed in thick haze, in Singapore, on September 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore (AFP) - Singapore has launched legal action that could lead to massive fines against Indonesian companies blamed for farm and plantation fires spewing unhealthy levels of air pollution over the city-state.

Five Indonesian companies including multinational Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) have been served with legal notices, according to a Singapore government statement issued late Friday.

The move followed a bitter diplomatic spat over Indonesia's failure to stop a severe outbreak of smoky haze which has also affected Malaysia and persisted for years.

APP, part of Indonesia's Sinar Mas conglomerate, is one of the world's largest pulp and paper groups and publicly upholds "sustainability" and forest conservation as core principles. Its products include stationery and toilet paper.

APP was asked by Singapore's National Environment Agency to supply information on its subsidiaries operating in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as measures taken by its suppliers in Indonesia to put out fires in their concessions.

The group, which has paper mills in Indonesia and China, did not immediately reply when asked by AFP for comment.

Under a 2014 law called the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, Singapore can impose a fine of Sg$100,000 ($70,000) for each day that a local or foreign company contributes to unhealthy levels of haze pollution in Singapore, subject to a maximum total of Sg$2.0 million.

Singapore is located near Indonesia's vast Sumatra island, where fires have traditionally been set off by farmers and plantations to clear land for cultivation.

Four other Indonesian companies -- Rimba Hutani Mas, Sebangun Bumi Andalas Wood Industries, Bumi Sriwijaya Sentosa and Wachyuni Mandira -- have been told to take measures to extinguish fires on their land, refrain from starting new ones, and submit action plans to prevent future fires.

Sinar Mas is also involved in palm oil production, an industry widely blamed for forest fires in Indonesia.

In its statement issued Friday, the Singapore government said it was "examining how to apply more economic pressure against errant companies," including a review of its own procurement policies.

A soldier inspects a peatland forest on fire in Kampar district, Riau province, 
on Indonesia's Sumatra island, on August 7, 2015 (AFP Photo/Alfachrozie)

Singapore's Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said the haze problem has lasted "for far too long".

"This is not a natural disaster. Haze is a man-made problem that should not be tolerated. It has caused major impact on the health, society and economy of our region," he said in the statement.

Singapore declared emergency shutdowns of elementary and high schools on Friday after the air pollutant index hit "hazardous" levels.

It eased to "moderate" levels on Saturday but a shift in wind direction can quickly change the situation.

The current haze outbreak is the worst since mid-2013. The recurring crisis grips Southeast Asia nearly every year during the dry season.

Singapore officials have reacted with outrage to Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla's comments that Indonesia's neighbours should be grateful for good air quality most of the year, and that Jakarta need not apologise for the crisis.

Indonesia has previously said that Singapore-based companies were among those responsible for the blazes.

About 3,000 troops and police have been sent to Sumatra to fight the fires, with Indonesian authorities saying last week that it would take a month to bring them under control.

Indonesia Ratifies Asean Haze Agreement

Jakarta Globe – AFP, Sep 16, 2014

The Marina Bay Sands casino and resort is pictured on a hazy day in
Singapore June 18, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Edgar Su)

Jakarta. The House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to ratify a regional agreement on cross-border haze as fires ripped through forests in west of the country, choking neighboring Singapore with hazardous smog.

Officials in Singapore and Malaysia have responded furiously to Indonesian forest fires, which have intensified and become more frequent in recent years.

Singapore’s air pollution rose to unhealthy levels on Monday as the Indonesian government failed to control fires in Sumatra island’s vast tracts of tropical forest.

The parliament’s decision has been passed into law.

The agreement obliges the government to strengthen its policies on forest fires and haze, actively participate in regional decision-making on the issue and dedicate more resources to the problem, regionally and domestically.

Indonesia signed the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution 12 years ago and has been under increasing pressure to ratify the document, beginning deliberations in earnest in January.

“Indonesia has already carried out operations for the prevention, mitigation of forest fires and haze, and recovery activities, at the national level,” the House said in a statement.

“But, to handle cross-border pollution, Indonesia and other ASEAN nations recognize that prevention and mitigation need to be done together,” it said.

While Singapore and Malaysia are smothered in haze from Indonesian forests every year, fires in June last year caused the region’s worst pollution crisis in a decade, renewing calls for action in the archipelago.

Authorities have said most of the fires are deliberately lit to clear land for commercial plantations, such as paper and palm oil, and have arrested people caught in the act.

The June 2013 haze crisis sparked a diplomatic row with Indonesia claiming Malaysian and Singaporean companies with plantations on Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo were among those starting the fires.

Singapore last month passed a bill that gives the government powers to fine companies that cause or contribute to haze up to Sg$2 million ($1.6 million), regardless of whether they have an office in Singapore.

Agence France-Presse

More Riau Haze Arrests as Singapore Drafts Legislation

Jakarta Globe, February 25, 2014

A resident of Riau sprays water on a peatland fire in the Pekanbaru district
on February 16, 2014. (AFP Photo)

Jakarta. Another 24 suspects were charged with setting brushfires in Riau on Tuesday in the latest police crackdown on illegal land clearing as the fires raging across the Sumatran province for more than three weeks showed signs of subsiding.

“All suspects are being investigated by the district police,” Riau Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Cmr. Guntur Aryo Tejo told the Indonesian news portal Tempo.co.

The arrests came on the heels of last week’s arrest of a dozen people allegedly involved in setting some of the region’s widespread fires. None of those arrested had any expressed affiliation with the large palm oil and pulp companies found in Indonesia’s once-forested Riau province. The act of setting fire to the forest land has been called a “traditional” method to clear-out land for palm oil plantations, one allegedly used by small-scale farmers for decades in this fertile region. Law enforcement’s seeming inability to address the issue has become a heated concern in Singapore and Malaysia.

One suspect, a 49-year-old woman, was allegedly caught setting fires herself, in spite of protests from her neighbors. A witness told police that he warned the woman to not set fire to scrub land in East Dumai district. Ignoring his pleas, the woman set the ground alight. The fire quickly spread to cover more than a hectare of land, according to Tempo reports.

“The fire has been doused by police officers with the help of residents,” Guntur told Tempo. “The perpetrator and the evidence have been taken to the local police office.”

This year, police in Riau have taken a tough stance on illegal land clearing. Last year’s fires raged for weeks and blanketed neighboring Malaysia and Singapore and hazardous levels of thick haze. The pollution ignited a diplomatic row between Indonesia and Malaysia and Singapore — two nations seemingly exasperated with Indonesia’s inability to control burning in Riau and Kalimantan. Singapore was quick to pour fuel on the flames this year, with the city-state’s environment minister almost immediately accusing Indonesia of not caring about the welfare of its neighbors.

The city-state’s environment minister Vivian Balakhrisnan accused “those countries” bordering Singapore of ineffectual law enforcement as he proposed legislation that would allow Singaporean police to criminally charge companies caught setting land on fire.

“We need to go further,” Vivian said. “We have therefore decided to draft new legislation with extra-territorial applications. If approved by Parliament, errant companies — local or foreign — will face criminal charges in Singapore courts if their overseas actions cause haze pollution in Singapore.”

He said that Singapore was tired of dealing with the problem.

“The root cause is commercial,” he said. “It is not the weather or the environment. Errant companies have been clearing land by illegal burning because it is the cheapest way to do so.”

The proposed legislation — the “Transboundary Haze Pollution Bill” — is still under deliberation. If passed, parties responsible for haze-causing activities would have to pay up to $300,000 in fines, or or up to $450,000 if deliberate criminal activity could be proven in court. The bill would apply to Singaporean and non-Singaporean entities equally, although enforcing the law outside the city-state would present its own challenges.

“We hope this legislation will send a strong signal of deterrence to errant companies,” Balakhrisnan said.

Although this year’s haze has yet to impact Singaporeans — air quality has remained safe throughout the heaviest period of burning — residents in Riau were left to suffer the ill-effects of forest fires as nearly 6,000 hectares burned. Air quality in Riau dropped to dangerous levels, prompting school closures and an outbreak of respiratory illness.

The number of hotspots was recorded as 145 on Tuesday, down significantly from the 1,398 reported by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) on Monday. Most of the remaining fires burned in Bengkalis district. Flights at Pekanbaru’s Sutan Syarif Kasim II International Airport continued to be affected on Tuesday, with 16 scheduled flights suffering delays, airport manager Ibnu Hasan told the Indonesian news portal Liputan6.com.

Other flights were diverted to Batam, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Ibnu said.

More than 100 people were forced to evacuate their homes as the fires spread and air quality dropped in Bengkalis, the local police chief told the Indonesian newsportal Detik.com.

“Our data shows that 125 people in total, including 24 children under five years old, 18 children and 83 adults [have left their homes],” Bengkalis Police Chief Adj. Sr. Cmr. Andry Wibowo told Detik.com. “We had to take them to shelters because their village was surrounded by fire, causing thick smog.”

The provincial government continued to advise against children going outside, closing local schools for some two weeks.

Related Article:

Indonesia Set to Ratify Haze Treaty by Early 2014

ASEAN gears up to build security community

Lilian Budianto, The Jakarta Post, Cha-am, Thailand | Mon, 03/02/2009 2:13 PM  

Border disputes, human trafficking and illegal logging will pose great challenges to ASEAN member states as they gear up to live under one security community umbrella by 2015. 

As member states clinched their commitment under the ASEAN Charter and adopted the blueprint for security community during the 14th ASEAN Summit in Thailand last weekend, relations among members in the 41-year-old bloc have remained testy, with the thorny issue of border security threatening to jeopardize the idea of a security pillar. 

Analysts have warned the vague concept of a security community amid the lack of commonality in standards of maintaining border security and settling disputes among member states might render the charter a toothless document. 

Philip S. Robertson Jr., adviser to the Bangkok-based Southeast Asia Regional Cooperation in Human Development (SEARCH) human development group, said the governments were left with a raft of homework to improve their security gaps before they could really implement the idea of one community. However, he highlighted the governments' "lack of political will" as a major obstacle to any good ideas they had given birth to. 

"They might tell the public about how much or how well they have progressed at the negotiation tables, but at the end there's not much to expect. Disputes will prolong and it's just an on-and-off matter," Robertson said. 

Member states have been faced with many disputes over their border security and boundaries, which have sparked military tensions and some ominous saber rattling. Standoffs have spilled over to the political stage and triggered exchanges of arguments among politicians, such as between Indonesia and Malaysia. Both countries have been locked in a dispute over the oil-rich Ambalat maritime area in the Sulawesi Sea, off the northern coast of Kalimantan, since the 1980s. 

Although the idea of using the ASEAN forum to settle disputes might strengthen the region's leverage on the global stage, a foreign minister in the region said member states might be underwhelmed with the idea. 

"Border disputes are a very sensitive matter," said the minister, who refused to be identified due to the sensitivity of the issue. 

"If solved in a regional forum and later *the body* has to rule in favor of a certain country, there could be tensions, not only between the two *conflicting* countries, but also *among members* in the whole region." 

Despite the many disagreements over how ASEAN should handle border disputes or disputes triggered by a lack of security, ASEAN governments have committed to cooperating with each other in the bloc, home to more than half a billion people. 

There is no shortage of problems in the region. Member countries often quarrel over the issues of illegal fishing, illegal logging, human trafficking, migrant workers, haze, pollution control and border disputes. 

Antara reported that Indonesia suffered US$3 billion a year in losses from illegal fishing in its vast waters, amid a lack of human resources to control its maritime borders. Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand have long been countries of origin for human trafficking victims destined for Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and a number of European countries. 

On haze and pollution, ASEAN members have yet to reach agreement on a control mechanism. Indonesian lawmakers rejected in 2008 a bill that would have allowed the government to ratify the ASEAN treaty on trans-boundary haze control. They argued ASEAN members would first have to agree on measures to curb illegal logging from Indonesia to a number of ASEAN countries before they could proceed on the haze control issue. Haze from Indonesian forest fires has become the center of the issue as it disrupts flights and creates breathing problems for residents of neighboring Malaysia and Singapore. 

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said all members should improve the way they sorted through their disputes and engaged themselves more on the regional stage for a better new community. 

"If you want to be taken seriously as a regional organization, members have to sort through their problems in a manner that is acceptable to the international community. Whether conducted in informal or formal talks, *problems* should be addressed among them. We are now under a new chapter of ASEAN and members should not jeopardize it," Surin said in Cha-am, Thailand.

S'pore unaffected by haze

By Huang Huifen, The Strait Times, 21 February 2009 

SINGAPORE has not been affected by the haze from forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra island.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Dr Yaacob Ibrahim gave this assurance yesterday when asked by reporters at the sidelines of a Mendaki event at Fort Canning Park. 

Media reports last week stated that haze from forest fires in Indonesia's Riau islands was blowing towards Singapore, and the number of hot spots there was rising. 

'The more important point is the project we have in Jambi. Now, the data is coming online, we are monitoring the air quality, and it showed that there are no fires in the Muaro Jambi area,' he said. 

'We hope the collaboration that Riau is having with Malaysia will also bear fruit, as the countries in the region take responsibility for this problem, and we will avoid the haze problem altogether,' he added. 

Closer to home, he also urged Singaporeans to do their part in preventing bushfires. 

A record 292 fires have erupted in the bushland and forested areas here over the past two months. 

Dr Ibrahim stressed the importance of not littering, especially with cigarette butts. Singaporeans must also stay vigilant and alert the authorities immediately if there is a fire.