In Indonesia, the haze is a failure of governance, not weather

Toxic haze from Kalimantan is killing thousands and souring relations with neighbours. Students and NGOs are now in the streets, demanding accountability.

Smoke from Indonesian fires killed an estimated 3,560 people in September, according to desktop analyses by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, while 57.8 million Indonesians were inhaling “unhealthy-to-hazardous air”.

Although the estimates haven’t been backed by figures from hospitals and clinics on the ground, there’s still no doubt the forest fires in Kalimantan province (on Borneo) are having a major impact on health and transport across the region, smoke reportedly poisoning people in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.

The fires have allegedly been set by workers following the orders of the big conglomerates making fortunes (ten of the alleged offenders are Singapore companies) refining bio-products that are already supplementing imported fossil fuels at a time of shortage.

Some firestick farmers have been prosecuted: 245 people and 20 companies have been labelled “suspects in forest and land fire cases across the country”, according to the Criminal Investigation Agency.

Whether these people will ever appear in court is another matter.

Eventually the smoke will clear as winds shift and the rainy season starts. But the wretched mess will return next year as it always has, unless there’s a change in the political weather.

More people live in Jakarta and its greater metro area than Australia has citizens. It’s an everyday smog city; the source is mainly factory smokestacks and motorbike exhausts. Three years ago there were 16 million registered machines. Electric vehicles are still rare.

In the capital and other big cities, students have been protesting the fires.

Campus teens and adult activists from a wide swathe of NGOs have been making their demands loud and clear, but so far the government of the former cashiered general and now President Prabowo Subianto doesn’t seem to be listening. This is infuriating the public, particularly parents of school kids, and the governments of adjacent nations.

These are factors making the city protests powerful – particularly with the commemoration of Hari Sumpah Pemuda (Youth Pledge Day) – altruistic youngsters being aroused by a social issue, not just by a pain in the pocket. It marks the anniversary of the 1928 Second Indonesian Youth Congress.

This year posters read: “If we burn, you burn with us”, “Free smoke, critical breathing”, “Development is not exploitation” and “Put exploitative corporations on trial”.

Dr Hilmar Farid, who directs the think tank (he prefers ’thought institution’) Megawati Institute (MI) funded by the nation’s biggest single political party, told this writer in a personal interview that he thinks Prabowo’s early refusal to seek overseas help is due to embarrassment.

That stance seems to have softened this month by accepting help with the loan of an Australian waterbomber.

In his fiery nationalistic speeches, Prabowo frequently criticises nameless ‘foreign forces’ for the ills that allegedly beset his nation of more than 280 million. Backing down and asking the cursed outsiders for help would make faces redder than the embers underfoot.

Dr Farid said: “The government at first refused help from Canada and Australia, which have firefighting experience. Why? National pride. Now we have this catastrophe and Indonesians seem not to care.

“We have to improve education so the people own the problems and can find solutions.”

The Institute is named after the republic’s fifth president (2001–2004), and eldest daughter (Soekarnoputri) of its first president Soekarno.

She’s still boss at 79 of the (in Australian terms) centre-left secular nationalist Partai Demokrasi Indonesia – Perjuangan. It’s the largest in the legislature with 110 of the 580 seats, but Prabowo formed a coalition with smaller parties.

Perjuangan (struggle) was added in 1996 when Soeharto thugs violently attacked a PDI meeting. Five died, 23 went missing, and 149 were injured.

The MI was opened this year and is trying to make itself an independent source of policy ideas through discussions, debates, public events and research papers. It’s becoming a home for intellectuals outside the universities and traditional lobby groups.

Prabowo has spent much of his first 24 months in office touring the world to enhance Indonesia’s standing as the fourth most populous nation, only to see its reputation go up in smoke. He’s also confronting allegations of wiretapping by senior staffers in his own office.

Some commentators are shouting ’treason’ but the issue seems more to do with ill-will between the president and his predecessor Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo over running the new palace in Kalimantan and the role of the VP Gibran Rakabuming, Widodo’s son.

The Prabowo show has not done well; a published survey showed ordinary voters gave the Cabinet an average performance score of 4.7 out of 10. The expert group suggested a fail: 2.9.

These figures are being flaunted by the street protestors demanding better governance and a stop to “shrinking civic space”. By this, they appear to mean that Prabowo is recruiting former military officers to run public departments and agencies, even though most of the new bosses are ill-equipped for the task.

This is another gripe atop the clouds – the free food for schoolkids scheme is a Prabowo initiative but badly financed and poorly run – with more than 33,000 students getting food poisoning, largely from unhygienic kitchens and poor cooking.

The banner-wavers claim priorities need to be rethought – and that’s right: But the first issue remains in the atmosphere, intangible but aspirable.

This column first appeared on Pearls and Irritations and is republished with permission.