It is happening again: Indonesia’s inability to control forest fires has left the residents of its northern neighbour covered in smoke, an annual occurrence that has often tested relations between the two nations.

Haze from forest and land fires from Riau province blew into Singapore on Friday, triggering a wave of complaints on social media from the city-state’s residents.

Singapore’s National Environment Agency (NEA) recorded that at 6 p.m. local time the pollutant standards index (PSI) had reached 127, down from 215 at 2 p.m. local time. A PSI above 100 is considered “unhealthy” while anything above 200 is categorized as “very unhealthy”, especially for young children, the elderly and people with heart and lung diseases.

On Friday, the NEA registered its concerns with its Indonesian counterpart over “additional episodes of deterioration in air quality in Singapore should the fires continue”.

“The NEA urged Indonesia to continue taking the necessary actions to prevent and mitigate the fires during this dry season and asked for an update on the situation in Sumatra and Kalimantan,” the agency said in a statement on Friday.

The air pollution comes from rampant illegal land clearing using fire, which ravages thousands of hectares of forest and quickly spreads a thick smoky haze over the region.

Indonesia’s Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement that forest and land fires had worsened in Riau and that smoke from 67 hot spots in the province had reached Singapore.

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In response to this, the government said it had declared states of emergency in six provinces: Riau, Jambi, South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

The emergency status was needed to allow easier access for the BNPB and to allow each regional disaster mitigation agency (BPBD) to mobilize resources.

The BNPB said it had deployed 7,200 air and ground task force personnel to tackle forest fires and land burning. It is also using three water bombing helicopters, two fixed-wing water bombers and one CASA aircraft to induce artificial rain.

The CASA aircraft, loaded with 40 tons of salt, has been used to intensify cloud-seeding in a bid to help stimulate rainfall in Riau. Thousands of canals, water reserves and reservoirs have also been prepared.

“About 21.7 million liters of water has been poured from the sky to extinguish the fires,” BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Based on data from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), 67 hot spots in the form of forest and land fires were detected in Riau on Friday morning.

Riau Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Edward Sanger said the number of hot spots had reduced to 47 by Friday evening.

Rokan Hilir and Bengkalis are the two regencies with the thickest haze. “The land there is dominated by peat, which burns easily, especially during the dry season,” Edward said.

“The forest fires in Riau come and go. It happened recently because rain has not poured down on the city for 15 days,” said Raffles Panjaitan, the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s fire mitigation director.

On Thursday, the National Police announced they had arrested more than 450 suspects in connection with land and forest fires to discourage recalcitrant companies and farmers from clearing land illegally.

National Police chief Tito Karnavian said Indonesia had deployed a very effective strategy to reduce the number of hot spots this year. On Aug. 16 the number of hot spots nationwide was 482, which was down from 14,451 last year.

In 2013, smoky haze from forest fires in Indonesia spread to Singapore, causing Singaporeans to suffer from their worst pollution in 16 years. The three-hour PSI in the country reached a record high of 401 in June that year, surpassing the country’s previously highest level of 226 recorded in 1997.

In 2014, Indonesia agreed to ratify the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) in order to expedite the process of preventing and monitoring cross-border smoke pollution. The agreement was also meant to facilitate co-operation with other ASEAN members, including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Brunei Darussalam.

In 2015, Vice President Jusuf Kalla criticised Singapore for complaining about haze and asked the city-state’s citizens to instead be grateful for the clean air they enjoyed during the rest of the year. He argued that Indonesia had repeatedly apologised for the forest fires that lead to haze problems in Singapore and Malaysia.

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SINGAPORE – Using a simple trick of sticking double-sided adhesive tape on their palms, a trio from China stole $100,225 worth of chips from more than 60 patrons at the casinos in Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa.

After their three-week theft spree, two of them, Zhou Haiming, 41, and Luo Jianguo, 37, left for China but returned 10 days later to line their pockets.

The pair were promptly arrested while trying to enter the MBS casino. Several pieces of ready-cut double-sided tape were found on them.

Zhou and Luo were initially sentenced to 18 months’ jail in May by a district court.

But on Friday (Aug 26), the High Court increased their respective sentences to two years’ jail on appeal by the prosecution.

The third member of their team, Huang Xiaomei, remains at large.

The court heard that in China, Zhou and Luo were told by a friend that he knew someone – Huang – who “earns a lot of money at the casino in Singapore”.

When Zhou and Luo arrived in Singapore on social visit passes on Sept 18, 2015, they met Huang at the MBS casino, where she told them they could make money by stealing casino chips from gamblers.

She taught them how to steal casino chips using double-sided tape. The trio worked together, with one person “palming” the chips while the others distracted the dealer and the victim.

The trio had a success rate of 95 per cent. The theft of $100,225 worth of chips, on 284 different occasions, was not detected. Neither were another 13 occasions of attempted theft.

Zhou and Luo gave Huang 20 per cent of the value of their loot. When they returned to China on Oct 13, 2015, Zhou had about $2,380 with him while Luo was carrying $913.

The duo returned to Singapore on Oct 24, 2015 and were arrested on the same day.

This article was first published on Aug 26, 2016.
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SINGAPORE – The National Environment Agency (NEA) has written to Indonesia with its concerns over the haze as air quality in Singapore is forecast to remain in the unhealthy range.

The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading crossed into the unhealthy range at 4pm on Friday (Aug 26), and is expected to remain unhealthy for the next 24 hours.

“The prevailing winds are forecast to blow mainly from the west… There could be a further deterioration in the air quality in the night should the westerly winds blow in denser haze from Sumatra,” said NEA.

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In July, NEA introduced new bandings and descriptors for the one-hour concentration readings of fine particles called PM2.5 – a major pollutant in smoke haze.

They are a good indicator of the current air quality and members of the public can “use this for immediate activities like going for a jog”, said NEA.

The Straits Times understands that they were introduced after members of the public suggested having a guide to PM2.5 readings after last year’s haze episode.

However, the bands do not state what levels are healthy or not, unlike the 24-hour PSI, which is used by the authorities here as the reference for health advisories.

The hazy conditions in Singapore have persisted, as haze from central Sumatra continued to be blown in by the prevailing westerly winds, the agency added.

“The main cause of the haze and smell that Singapore is experiencing today is likely from the forest and peatland fires from land clearing practices in Sumatra,” said Assistant Professor Janice Lee from the Asian School of the Environment at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

Ms Lee said the chances of the haze continuing into September are high, as it is the peak dry season where there is frequent land clearing activities using fires. Dry weather conditions in Sumatra also means that Singapore can expect smoke from fires due to the South-Westerly winds in the region.

“The wetter conditions from La Niña are expected to help douse the fires but international climate models do not indicate that these conditions have kicked in yet. Presently, dry weather conditions prevail in Sumatra and Kalimantan and we can expect smoke from fires due to the South-Westerly winds in the region,” she added.

Given the air quality forecast, NEA advises the public to reduce prolonged or strenuous outdoor physical exertion. Those who are not feeling well, especially the elderly and children, and those with chronic heart or lung conditions, should seek medical attention.

Schools are taking precautions during this examination period. Some have moved students taking exams to an air-conditioned venue, while others have brought out the air purifiers.

Singapore experienced one of the worst haze outbreaks last September when PSI almost hit hazardous levels, forcing schools to close.

The 24-hour PSI reading then was between 219 and 270, in the very unhealthy range. A PSI reading above the 300-point mark is considered hazardous.

For more haze updates from AsiaOne, click here:

This article was first published on Aug 26, 2016.
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.