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View all search resultsRegional fallout grows as Indonesia rejects disaster status
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Firefighters work on containing a wildfire on Oct. 13 in Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan. Toxic haze has shrouded parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts across Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region. (AFP/Muda Sagala)
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ndonesia’s refusal to declare the prolonged forest fires a national disaster has drawn mounting criticism as haze affects millions at home and abroad, prompting Malaysia’s carriers to cancel flights and Singapore to revive a health subsidy scheme for the first time in more than a decade.
Greenpeace forest campaigner Belgis Habiba told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the scale of crisis and their impact on communities warranted declaring a national disaster. She criticized the government for failing to prevent the fires despite longstanding scientific warnings about the risk of prolonged drought linked to El Niño this year.
“This situation hasn’t been handled seriously, evidenced by the failure to declare the [fires and haze] a national disaster,” she said.
The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) similarly criticized the government’s ineffective response and questioned its reluctance to accept foreign assistance.
“The government has struggled with a crisis of its own making from the get-go. It should’ve taken stronger mitigation efforts early on,” Walhi campaigner Uli Arta Siagian said.
Read also: Wildfires in national parks threaten biodiversity as firefighting gaps persist
Uli cautioned, however, that declaring a national disaster should not allow the fires to be framed as a natural calamity, potentially absolving companies of responsibility for fires on their concession areas.
