GAPKI Asks Govt To Clear Four Firms Over Haze

Jakarta, July 2 (Antara) - The Indonesian Palm Oil Businesses Association (GAPKI) has asked the relevant parties to clear the names of four companies of its members which are previously indicated to have burnt land and forests in Riau Province. "We hope that the relevant parties will clear the names of four Gapki members of the eight companies (mentioned earlier to have caused forest fires), such as Group Minamas, Adie Plantation and Mustika Agro. These compaies did not open new plantations," Gapki Chairman for Riau Province Wisnu Oriza said here on Tuesday. Wisnu also asked the director general for agriculture last week to clarify the statement made by Environment Minister Balthazar Kambuaya (that eight Malaysian companies were suspected to have been involved in the forest fires). He said that (beause of that) the plam oil companies faced difficulties to obtain credits from banks for their capital, and when they wanted to sell their crude palm oil (CPO) they also faced problems. Based on the law in force, when proofs are already complete and based on facts, the police can directly arrest those responsible for companies which set fires on land and forests. "Gapki supports the enforcement of the law as long as proofs and facts are enough on the involvement of the companies. We leave it to the law enforcers to uphold the law and to carry out legal process," Wisnu said. Earlier, Environment Minister Balthazar Kambuaya said there were eight Malaysian companies which were suspected to be involved in land and forest fires which caused haze in Raiu Province. The eight firmas are PT Langgam Inti Hiberida, PT Bumi Reksa Sejati, PT Tunggal Mitra Plantation, PT Udaya Loh Dinawi, PT Adei Plantation, PT Jatim Jaya Perkasa, PT Multi Gambut Industri and PT Mustika Agro Lestari. In the meantime, he Police of Riau have arrested 23 suspects in connection with forest and peat land fires in the province that have caused smoke blankets over the Sumatran region and some neighboring countries. Spokesperson of the Riau Police Command, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Hermansyah, said on Monday that two more suspects had been arrested following reports from local people making the number of the suspects to reach 23 who were all now under police detention. The last two suspects namely Ham, arrested in Tanjung Leba Village, Bukit Batu Subdistrict of Bengkalis and BA, arrested in Sang Kemang Village, Koto Gasib Subdistrict of Siak District. "However, we haven`t received data about the areas that had been burned. The crime scenes varied," Hermansyah said. The 23 suspects have allegedly caused forest and land fires in 15 areas located in some districts in the Riau Province. Besides Ham, there were five other suspects arrested by Bengkalis Police, namely Subari (46), Hartono (35), Ali Imron, Ali Umar and Atim. In Rokan Hulu District, 11 suspects in four cases had been arrested, namely Hotman Purba (56), Ketiman, Sukadi, Aswin, Rizal, Heriyadi Saputra, Eka Budi Arianto, Marlin Nasution, Mohammad Yasir, KH Johari and Abdul Wahab. Two suspects, Sumardi (42) and Shokai Autlo were arrested by Pelalawan District Police. The Siak and Dumai District Police respectively arrested two suspects. "The 23 suspects are being detained in their respective district police offices for investigation. The number of suspects might still increase," Hermawan said. The Police are coordinating with the Ministry of Environment to investigate any indication of involvement of companies in the forest fires.