Indonesia is burning again. Last fall, forest fires across huge tracts of land in Borneo forced businesses and schools to close, killed crops, scared tourists, and caused tens of thousands to become ill with respiratory diseases. The monsoon rains helped fight the fires, but they have once again flared, with between 80,000 and 100,000 hectares of land on fire in about 500 locations throughout Borneo. The costs of the fires have been put at over $5 billion US dollars, money that Indonesia can ill afford right now, thanks to the ongoing currency crisis.
The fires represent an environmental disaster caused completely by human greed, ignorance, and stupidity. The weather patterns of El Nino made last year's monsoons too light and too late to fight the fires effectively. But Indonesian officials blaming El Nino are only desperately trying to place blame somewhere other than where it belongs: squarely on the shoulders of the Indonesian government.
Indonesia has allowed hundreds of companies to clear forest land simply by burning it, an absolutely mind-boggling waste of natural resources. Even if the forests were chopped and sold as timber, at least some economic gains could be achieved for the high environmental costs of clearing timberland. Yet Indonesia allowed companies, even granted permits, to clear the land through a destructive and risky method that has ignited not just wide blazes, but tensions in Southeast Asia.
The thick, choking smog created by the fires, euphemistically known as "haze," has blown into Malaysia and Singapore, causing thousands to fall ill. After harsh criticism from these and other Southeast Asian nations, the Indonesian government belatedly took action, and revoked the permits of 144 companies engaged in timber clearing. ASEAN designed a plan to fight the haze through improvements to its fire-fighting capabilities, as well as developing better strategies for monitoring potential hotspots.
Then, as the monsoon rains finally fell in December, it seemed as if the problem was about to disappear. According to an article in the March 26 Japan Times, the Indonesian government even reinstated many of the permits to clear the land a few weeks later. Predictably, as soon as the weather became hot and dry again, the fires flared out of control. Over 2,000 people in one province alone, East Kalimantan, are seeking treatment for respiratory problems.
Indonesia is struggling to convince the world that its government is one of laws, not of men. It is attempting to convince the IMF that loans will not be squandered, and that it can behave responsibly. By choosing the short-term interests of profit-hungry farmers who need the cleared land over long-term environmental good, Indonesia is failing this test. How can we trust them to allow bankrupt financial institutions to fail, when the government cannot even face the prospect of a few failing farmers?
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Jason Gottlieb's East Asian Politics topic, please visit the Discussions page.