Joko Cuts Short US Trip to Deal With Fire, Haze Crisis

Jakarta Globe, Basten Gokkon, October 27, 2015

President Joko Widodo inspects a firefighting operation on burning peat forest in
Pulang Pisau district, Central Kalimantan, on Sept. 24. The president has cut short
 his inaugural visit to the United States to coordinate a response to the worsening
forest fires. (AFP Photo/Romeo Gacad)

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo has decided to cut short his first official visit to the United States as a forest fire crisis blazes out of control back home.

“The president has received recent updates from the minister for politics, legal and security affairs minister regarding the haze that has affected more Indonesian people,” Arrmanatha Nasir, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told the Jakarta Globe late on Monday.

He said Joko and part of his delegation would immediately return home on Tuesday after attending scheduled events in Washington, D.C., where the president met with President Barack Obama, congressmen and US executives on Monday.

Joko’s return means he will not attend much-anticipated meetings with technology executives from Apple, Google and Microsoft, among others. Representing him in Silicon Valley instead, Arrmanatha said, will be the communications and trade ministers, as well as the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).

Arrmanatha said the president would fly to either South Sumatra or Central Kalimantan once he arrives back in the country. Both provinces are among the hardest hit by forest fires generating intense volumes of health-threatening haze.

A top legislator earlier on Monday lashed out at the president for going abroad just as the fire and haze crisis worsens. Up to three-quarters of Indonesia is affected to varying degrees by the haze.

Related Articles:

Indonesia fires can't be put out, Malaysian minister warns
Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

#INFOGRAPHIC Updated map and pollution data on the Southeast Asian haze @AFP pic.twitter.com/rIWRmxjas1

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) October 27, 2015

China is lending the Netherlands two pandas

DutchNews, October 26, 2015

China is lending two giant pandas to the Netherlands, foreign affairs minister Bert Koenders said on Monday. 

The minister was speaking in Beijing on the second day of a state visit by king Willem-Alexander and queen Máxima. 

The loan is ‘a sign of the special bond between China and the Netherlands’, the minister told Dutch media. 

The loan is definitely a sign of close ties between the two countries, but the Netherlands has been pushing for it for some time, according to Volkskrant reporter Marije Vlaskamp. 

‘Prime minister Mark Rutte did not ask explicitly during his visit to China two years ago, but he hardly stopped talking about it,’ she writes. 

The pandas are not a gift and will cost the Netherlands money, although how high the cost will be is not known. 

The pandas will housed at Ouwehands Zoo in Rhenen, but it is not yet known when they will arrive. ‘It depends on the preparations, including the building of an enclosure for them,’ a spokesman told the Volkskrant. 

Junior economic affairs minister Sharon Dijksma says she has signed an agreement with the Chinese forestry commission for the two animals. She says it offers the opportunity for working together on other animal protection programmes.

Indonesia fires can't be put out, Malaysian minister warns

Yahoo – AFP, 19 Oct 2015

Facing growing pressure, Indonesia earlier this month agreed to accept international 

help after failing for weeks to douse the fires from slash-and-burn farming that have

 shrouded angry neighbours Malaysia and Singapore in smoke for weeks (AFP

Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

International efforts to douse raging Indonesia fires will fail and Southeast Asia could face several more weeks of choking smoke until the rainy season starts, Malaysia's environment minister warned on Monday.

Facing growing pressure, Indonesia earlier this month agreed to accept international help after failing for weeks to douse the fires from slash-and-burn farming that have shrouded angry neighbours Malaysia and Singapore in smoke for weeks.

But Malaysia was forced once again to close schools in several areas Monday due to unhealthy air, and Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the crisis could continue for another month.

"Unless there is rain, there is no way human intervention can put out the fires," he told AFP on the sidelines of Malaysia's parliament session, warning that the blazes were spread across "huge areas" of Indonesia.

Even the multi-nation effort now under way "is not enough to put out the fires," he added.

"We hope the rains will come in mid-November. It will be able to put out the fires," Wan Junaidi said.

On Friday, Indonesia launched its biggest fire-fighting assault yet, with dozens of planes and thousands of troops battling the illegally started agricultural and forest fires in its territory on the huge islands of Sumatra and Borneo.

Thirty-two planes and helicopters -- including six aircraft from Singapore, Malaysia and Australia -- were deployed to back up more than 22,000 personnel on the ground.

The fires and resulting region-wide haze are an annual dry-season problem, but experts warn the current outbreak is on track to become the worst ever, exacerbated by tinder-dry conditions from the El Nino weather phenomenon.

The acrid air has sparked health alerts, sent thousands to hospitals for respiratory problems, and caused the cancellation of scores of flights and some major international events across the region.

Indonesian National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho also offered sobering comments Monday, saying the fires were "yet to be overcome."

Sutopo said satellite data indicated Indonesia now had more than 1,500 "hotspots", which are loosely defined as areas where fires are either burning or where conditions are ripe for blazes to break out.

"The actual number is higher as the satellite is not able to penetrate the thickness of the haze in Sumatra and (Borneo)," he added.

Malaysia enjoyed a brief spell of lowered haze last week, but the government -- which has repeatedly ordered school closures across wide areas as a health precaution -- did so again on Monday as skies once again reverted to the now-familiar soupy gray.

Schools were closed in several states and in the capital Kuala Lumpur as pollution levels climbed well into the "unhealthy" range under the government's rating system.

Air quality in Singapore, however, improved Monday after entering "unhealthy" levels over the weekend.

Pregnant chimp adopts orphan in 'unheard of' act

Yahoo – AFP, 14 Oct 2015

Baby chimp Boon - who was orphaned when his mother Soona died shortly after 

he was born on October 9, 2015 - clings to his new adopted mother Zombi in 

Monarto Zoo, southeast of Adelaide, Australia (AFP Photo/David Mattner)

Sydney (AFP) - An Australian zoo Wednesday unveiled a baby chimp adopted by a pregnant female in an "unheard of" act after his mother died during birth.

The baby, whose name Boon means blessing, was orphaned when mum Soona died shortly after he was born at Monarto Zoo, southeast of Adelaide, late last week.

The adoption of another female's baby by a 

pregnant female, an "unheard of" act amoungst

 chimps, has happened at Monarto Zoo in

Australia (AFP Photo/David Mattner)

But in a heartwarming twist, the "strong" and "healthy" infant was immediately adopted by fellow chimp Zombi, who had remained by Soona's side as she died.

The zoo's senior primate keeper Laura Hanley said she did not know of anywhere else in the world where a pregnant chimpanzee had taken on the role of surrogate to another infant, so close to a birth of her own.

"I'm humbled by what we've seen from the chimpanzee troop over the last few days -- it's unheard of to see a heavily pregnant chimpanzee adopt an orphaned newborn infant," she said in a statement as the "miracle" baby made his public debut.

"From the minute she first cradled the newborn, she's been amazing -- grooming, supporting and nursing the little man as though he was her own.

"The unique situation certainly reinforces the strong bond our chimps share and the similarities these amazing creatures have with their closest living relative, us."

Hanley said she was optimistic Zombi would continue to care for Boon once her own baby was born later this month.

Singapore banks urged to curtail loans to haze-linked firms

Yahoo – AFP, Martin Abbugao, 9 Oct 2015

A worker waters a field as downtown buildings are shrouded in smog in
Singapore on October 5, 2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Singapore (AFP) - An umbrella group of local and foreign banks in smog-hit Singapore has urged members to make "sustainable development" part of their lending requirements, stepping up pressure on companies linked to land-clearing fires in Indonesia.

The 158-member Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) on Thursday issued guidelines for the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, forest degradation and biodiversity loss among the criteria for approving commercial loans.

The move came in the wake of fires illegally started to clear land for plantations on Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo, which have shrouded Singapore and Malaysia in acrid smoke since early September.

"The banking sector in Singapore wants to play a bigger role in driving responsible business and long-term sustainable development," ABS director Ong-Ang Ai Boon said in a statement.

The smoky haze has also reached the popular Thai holiday islands of Phuket and Samui, forcing several planes packed with beach-bound tourists to turn back.

Palm oil and pulp and paper companies are believed to be the main culprits behind the use of burning to clear massive tracts of land for their plantations, but prosecution by Indonesian authorities has been rare, prompting affected countries like Singapore to resort to economic pressure.

Singapore's biggest supermarket chain, NTUC Fairprice, this week withdrew from its shelves all paper products sourced from Indonesian-owned Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), which has corporate offices in the city-state.

The company's suppliers are suspected of starting forest fires in Indonesia.

The Fullerton Hotel is blanketed in thick haze, in Singapore, on September 24,

2015 (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Related Articles:

Singapore moves against Indonesian firms over haze
Malaysia shuts schools as choking smog worsens