Indonesia suspends operations of four companies over haze

Jakarta

INDONESIA has ordered four companies to suspend operations for allegedly causing forest fires that have sent thick smoke across a swathe of South-east Asia, an environment ministry official said on Tuesday.

Indonesia has launched investigations against more than 200 companies as it scrambles to bring the fires on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands under control by the end of November, amid complaints from neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.

Previous government efforts to halt the seasonal slash-and-burn practices have failed to tackle the problem due to a lack of policy coordination and legal wrangling that can take years to resolve. "These suspensions will be in effect until the criminal proceedings undertaken by the police are finished," environment ministry secretary-general Bambang Hendroyono said.

Three palm oil plantation companies have had their permits frozen and one forestry company has had its licence revoked, he added. All the companies were Indonesian-owned.

Plantation company PT Langgam Inti Hibrindo (LIH), which is owned by small listed firm PT Provident Agro, was among the companies to have its permit frozen, Mr Hendroyono said.

Provident Agro said in an e-mail to Reuters that LIH had not received any notice of its operational licence being suspended or revoked.

Muhammad Yunus, director of criminal law at the environment ministry, said that a Singapore-owned company was also under investigation, but declined to elaborate.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo has ordered thousands of security personnel backed by helicopters to help fight the fires, and has threatened to revoke land permits from companies found responsible.

Underscoring the difficulties for the Indonesian government, the Supreme Court this month upheld for the first time a 366 billion rupiah (S$35.8 million) fine against PT Kallista Alam for illegally burning peatland, a case that took three years to be resolved.

Green groups said that the Indonesian government needs to put in place a longer-term plan to tackle the annual burning, and that a greater proportion of budgeted funds should be spent on prevention.

Air quality on the Indonesian part of Borneo island worsened on Tuesday, hitting hazardous levels in some areas, although it was improving on Sumatra.

Smog also clouded the skyline in Singapore as the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) edged into the low end of the unhealthy range.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said on Tuesday evening that the 24-hour PSI for the next 24 hours is expected to be in the low to mid sections of the unhealthy range, and may enter the high end of the unhealthy range if denser haze from Sumatra is blown in.

Parts of Malaysian Borneo, a vast island shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, also registered "unhealthy" air quality. REUTERS, AFP