Two Malaysian Plantation Managers In Haze Probe,Banned Farom Leaving Indonesia.

The fires in plantations located in Riau, Sumatera, were the cause of the haze which affected Malaysia and Singapore in recent months. TWO Malaysian plantation managers were banned from leaving Indonesia for six months to facilitate investigations into illegal fires on agricultural land in Sumatra, the sort that contributed to the haze that enveloped Singapore and Malaysia a few months ago.

The Wall Street Journal, quoting Pekanbaru head of immigration Amran Aris, revealed the two as Tan Kei Yoong and Danesuvaran K.R. Singam. Amran said today that the two were managers at PT Adei Plantation and Industry, and they were barred from leaving the republic following a request from the investigators. Adei, a subsidiary of plantation company Kuala Lumpur Kepong, is based in Indonesia's Riau province, and was one of eight companies under probe for causing illegal agricultural fires in Sumatra.

Kuala Lumpur Kepong is one of Malaysia's largest oil palm planters. At times as many as nearly 100 hotspots or more in Sumatra cause haze which can blanket countries in the region, especially Malaysia and Singapore, during the dry season between May and September. In July, Malaysian plantation concessions in Indonesia had denied any involvement in the slash-and-burn farming approach that was blamed for the fires. Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri G. Palanivel had told reporters that the companies had denied the allegations and said they adhered to the zero-burning policy.

He said this after the 15th meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on trans-boundary haze pollution in Kuala Lumpur on July 17. The minister said Sime Darby's deputy chief executive officer had also given the Indonesian government the greenlight to retake some of its fire-prone land to prevent wild fires. "They also promised to educate farmers farming on their land on open burning," he said. The Indonesian police had at the time said they were also investigating four other companies for suspected involvement in the fires but did not identify them.

The republic's environment ministry in June named eight Southeast Asian companies as possible suspects, including Adei. They denied any wrongdoing. KL Kepong's satellite mapping data showed Adei concessions cover around 14,900 hectares. Of that total, 800 hectares are controlled by local community members. "Looking again at the satellite data, the hotspots are all outside our territory," said the company's plantation director, Roy Lim. Any individual found guilty of starting a forest fire can face a jail term of up to 10 years and fines of up to 10 billion rupiah (RM318,655).

Firms found guilty of the offence can also have their profits seized, operations shut down and be sued for damages. More than a dozen people had been arrested for lighting fires, Indonesian police said, but it was unclear if they were employees of any of the eight named companies or independent farmers. Indonesia's palm oil industry is the world's largest. The Riau province is the heart of the industry and the base of operations for major companies from Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. It is also home to Indonesia's largest pulpwood companies.