Haze Returns To Brunei
By Azlan Othman

Bandar Seri Begawan - After a brief spell of clear skies during the first week of Hari Raya following a wet spell, the haze once again returned yesterday, obscuring sunlight and lowering visibility especially in the afternoon.

According to the Department of Environment, Parks and Recreation website, the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) reading yesterday was 49, bordering on good and moderate level of air quality.

However, the Brunei Meteorological Office said visibility had been reduced from 7km at Sam yesterday to 5km at 12pm, and reduced further to 3km at 1.30pm.

The drop in visibility was attributed to a change in wind directions from north-easterly to south-westerly blowing in the haze from hotspot areas in Kalimantan and Sumatra over Brunei.

The Meteorological Office added as of 6pm on Monday, latest satellite pictures showed 77 hotpots recorded in Kalimantan. However, such figures depended on cloud cover and did not give a true account of the situation.

"The north-easterly winds pushed the haze away from Brunei last week but Typhoon Cimaron, which is currently over west Philippines, caused strong south-westerly winds to blow over Borneo. This condition is expected to bring the haze back from Kalimantan temporarily.

A slight haze is expected over the next 24-hour period and visibility may worsen to 2km, the spokesperson said.

When contacted yesterday, the flight information desk at the Brunei International Airport said that to date, no flights have been rescheduled or delayed because of the haze.

Members of the public also reported detecting the smell of burning particles yesterday, however the Fire and Rescue Services Department said they had not received any calls to extinguish openburnings in the country as of 4.30pm yesterday.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that Indonesian aviation authorities grounded 18 pilots on Tuesday for breaking safety regulations by landing in thick haze in the past month, as the smog returned to Borneo in the absence of rain.

Two pilots responsible for a Mandala Airlines jet that skidded off the runway while landing in thick haze at a Borneo airport on October 3 were slapped with a one-year flying ban, a transport ministry official said.

The rest "were grounded for two months each for violating air safety regulations," Ady Gunawan, head of the ministry's aircraft operations subdirectorate, told AFP.

Gunawan said the sanctions were meted out because the pilots "knew that visibility at the destination airport was below the permitted safety level, but they still went ahead and attempted to land".

After rains in the past week, the haze returned to the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya, with visibility at just 100 metres early Tuesday, said Hidayat, the head of the local meteorology station.

"There was rain yesterday (Monday), but it fell south of here and not over Palangkaraya," Hidayat said,.

Dendol Toepak, spokesman for the provincial administration, said fires continued to burn mostly in peat land. Such fires can burn underground for long periods and resurface later, making them difficult to fight.

In neighbouring East Kalimantan, visibility of less than 1,000 metres caused flight delays at one local airport, the state Antara news agency reported.

Indonesia has also leased two amphibious fire-fighting planes from Russia to help douse the forest fires in Sumatra and Borneo that have been spreading smoke across the region, Reuters reported.

"They will be ready on Wednesday. They can take 12 tonnes of water. With their large capacity, they will not require many stops," said Sugeng Triutomo, head of the Indonesia's National Disaster Agency's disaster mitigation division.

Triutomo said the first target would be parts of southern Sumatra where there were still 15 hotspots raging.

The acrid, eye-watering haze has smothered areas in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks, triggering criticism of Jakarta for failing to act against the fires, an annual event ahead of the planting season.

Land-clearing by fire, which is usually carried out by plantation companies as well as farmers, has been outlawed in Indonesia but enforcement is weak.

At an emergency meeting of Southeast Asian environment ministers this month, Indonesia was urged to promptly ratify a regional treaty on preventing the choking haze, but parliament has not yet acted. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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