Indonesian smog threatens tourism

By RICHARD LLOYD PARRY

Choking smog from invisible underground fires in Indonesia is once again threatening tourism, transport and human health across southeast Asia.

In the last few days, dangerously high levels of smoke pollution have been recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, and Thailand, raising fears of a repeat of the 1997 crisis when thousands of people were sickened, and millions of dollars were lost in tourist cancellations, disruption to airports and shipping, lost work days and sickness.

In the city of Pontianak, in the west part of Indonesian Borneo, visibility has been reduced to as little as 50 metres and people have been urged to wear protective masks or to remain indoors in the afternoons and at night. Flights at the local airport have been delayed for up to an hour and a half because of smog on the runways.

"It is getting worse in the evenings, with visibility down to between 50 and 400 meters but by 8 am, it gets better at around 1,000 metres," said Muhammad Chaeran of the government meteorological office in Pontianak.

According to Nurul Irsadi of the provincial Environmental Impact Management Agency, measurements have revealed dangerous overnight levels of ash and debris in the air. "It ranges between unhealthy and healthy until 8 am and usually healthy after that," Mr Irsadi said yesterday.

Earlier in the week, similar poor visibility forced fishermen in southern Thailand to stay in port for fear of collisions with shipping.

Schools have temporarily closed in parts of Malaysia, and those who work outside, like street sweepers, have taken to wearing masks over their faces.

The Malaysian government suppresses measurements of atmospheric pollution in order not to discourage tourists, and in the last few days it has insisted that the smog is easing. But eye irritation and dense smoke have been reported in several parts of the country including the popular tourist city of Penang.

A spokeswoman for Malaysia's environmental department said this week: "We have been monitoring the readings and find that the API is quite stable and should come down in a day or two as we don't see any increasing trend. We don't want to confuse the public with numbers."

- INDEPENDENT