[ANN]Sumatra haze reaches Malaysia, Thailand

Haze from forest fires blanketing much of Sumatra has started to spill over into neighbouring countries, posing a health risk and disrupting flights both at home and abroad, local officials said Sunday (July 30).

Over 130 fire "hot spots" have been detected in Riau province in the last few days, affecting some 3,000 hectares of land, including one protected forest.

"Forest fires have occurred in Riau and North Sumatra, which is an annual occurrence," Nursiwan Taqwim, head of the Sumatra Regional Center for Environmental Management, told The Jakarta Post.

Haze has blanketed the Riau capital of Pekanbaru and parts of neighbouring North Sumatra and Jambi provinces, forcing thousands to wear masks and postpone air travel.

"I actually don`t like to wear a mask but I have no choice because I don`t want to risk respiratory problems," Umar, a Pekanbaru resident, told a local newspaper.

Malaysia`s meteorological authority said haze had reduced visibility and contaminated air in Port Klang, Penang and Perak -- all on the Malay Peninsula -- as well as parts of southern Thailand. Thai health authorities have warned people in southern Thailand to stay indoors to avoid the health-threatening haze.

Indonesian Forestry Minister M.S. Kaban said in a radio interview Sunday that not all of the haze affecting neighbouring countries came from Indonesia. "Malaysia also has hot spots, so it would be unfair to blame it solely on us," he said.

The Health Ministry`s director for environmental health, Wan Alkadri, told the Post the forest fires released highly dangerous pollutants into the air, which could cause breathing problems and cancer.

Motorists in Pekanbaru have been forced to turn on their vehicles` lights during the day because visibility is only 50 metres.

Nursiwan said most of the fires were in Pelawan, Rokan Hilir and Rokan Hulu regencies. These include fires in the protected forest around Mt. Mahato.

"Most of the blazes were started by local residents converting forest into plantations," he said.

The Forestry Ministry`s director for forest fire control, Tri Wibowo, said with the help of about 300 forest firefighters and hundreds of local volunteers, the haze could be stopped in the next two weeks.

He said to prevent a repeat of the annual haze, his office would step up efforts to improve farmers` environmental awareness.

"All of the forest fires here have been started by residents. So the key is to get farmers, as well as plantation and logging companies, not to convert land using fire," he said.

Riau Police have questioned one district head and two village chiefs for failing to prevent forest fires in their areas of jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, environmental group Greenomics Indonesia has urged the government to stop issuing licenses to convert forests, saying this only contributes to the annual fires.

A lawmaker from the House of Representatives` Commission VII for the environment, Ahmad Farial, said the legislature would consider ratifying the Asean Trans-Boundary Haze Pollution agreement, with the support of regional administrations, particularly those in regions prone to forest fires.

"If we ratify the agreement, Indonesia will get support from Asean governments to combat forest fires," he told Antara.