Since 2000, Indonesia has annually received complaints from neighboring countries over haze arising from forest and land fires in the dry season.
However, additional hard efforts to improve the system and procedures on ways to cope with forest and land fires continue to be undertaken at the national and regional levels to combat haze pollution.
Forest and land fires that are likely to occur in 2018 are feared to cause problems, as some hotspots are located in proximity to the Asian Games venue, especially Jakabaring Stadium in Palembang, South Sumatra.
However, efforts to cope with forest and land fires in the past few years have been quite successful in reducing smoke pollution, so the international sporting event of the Asian Games is believed to be free from this environmental problem.
Through serious cooperation and hard work of all stakeholders, the implementation of the Asian Games in Palembang is guaranteed to be safe from haze pollution, according to Coordinating Minister for Political, Law, and Security Affairs Wiranto.
To ensure the venues of the Asian Games matches in Palembang are free of smoke arising from land and forest fires, numerous smoke detectors have been installed in the Jakabaring Sport City (JSC) area.
JSC Palembang Director Bambang Supriyanto remarked recently that four temperature and smoke detection devices had been installed at the Athlete Hall, Shooting Stadium, Athletic Stadium, and Jakabaring Sriwijaya Stadium.
The temperature and smoke detection devices are a grant from the Center for Research on IOT data and resiliency initiatives from ICTP UNESCO.
Supriyanto noted that it was part of the efforts of the government to detect early humidity and smoke haze, including the direction of the smoke haze.
In addition to optimizing the temperature and smoke detection devices, South Sumatra Province has also formed a Forest and Land Fire Task Force comprising the TNI, Polri, Manggala Agni Fire Brigade, and government officials as a precautionary measure against land and forest fires in the dry season.
Although forest and land fires are still found in the districts of Ogan Komering Ilir and Musi Banyuasin, this incident did not cause smoke disasters in Palembang City.
However, the government has intensified Weather Modification Technology to bring rain to ensure no smoke disasters occur during the Asian Games scheduled from August 18 to September 2, 2018.
Commander of the Air Force Base in Palembang Colonel Pnb HR Sutrisno stated that the Air Task Force was aggressively conducting cloud seeding operations after additional aircraft arrived in Palembang last Monday.
According to Sutrisno, this effort was quite fruitful, as several locations had received rain despite being the peak of the dry season.
In addition, the South Sumatra neighboring province of Riau is ready to prevent land and forest fires to ensure the success of the games.
Riau Governor Arsyadjuliandi Rachman had remarked in Pekanbaru early this month that by preventing land and forest fires, the city of Palembang is free from haze pollution during the international sporting event.
During the Asian Games torch relay ceremony at the Riau provincial government office that time, the governor had stressed that various parties in the province had continued to work hard to prevent forest and land fires, so that smoke will not spread to Palembang.
In addition to ensuring the success of the Asian Games, Governor Arsyadjuliandi noted that Riau had also helped to encourage athletes, who will participate in Asia`s biggest sporting event.
Some 25 athletes from Riau are part of the Asian Games Indonesian contingent, and they are expected to be able to deliver their best performance and win medals.
In its efforts to ensure the success of the Asian Games, Riau`s Land and Forest Fire Task Force had recently deployed six water bombing and patrol helicopters to contain the spread of hotspots in the area.
The six helicopters include a Bell 430 patrol helicopter, two water bombers Kamov K-32A, and a water bomber Sikorsky S61-A, the four being provided by the National Disaster Management Agency.
Two other helicopters are a Super Puma N-5893Y provided by pulp and paper producer Sinarmas and a Bell 412 SP provided by the Forestry and Environment Ministry.
President Joko Widodo had emphasized earlier that the related authorities should do their best to ensure that the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang is not disrupted by land and forest fires.
As the host of the Asian Games, Indonesia must be able to ensure that land and forest fires will not occur during the multi-sport event, so that the country`s image and flights are not disrupted by the haze.
Indonesia will host the Asian Games for the second time this year after Jakarta was selected as the venue for the Asian sporting event for the first time in 1962. By virtue of its hosting of the 2018 games, the country aims to secure a place among the top 10 largest sporting events.
Some 45 countries will participate in the games that will feature 462 events across 40 sports, of which 32 are Olympic sports and eight are non-Olympic events.
The Olympic sports are Aquatics, Athletics, Fencing, Weightlifting, Basketball, Handball, Badminton, Baseball/Softball, Cycling, Equestrian, Golf, Wrestling, Hockey, Judo, Karate, Canoeing and Kayaking, Sailing, Shooting, Modern Pentathlon, Archery, Sport Climbing, Rowing, Rugby, Gymnastics, Roller Skating, Football, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Tennis, Boxing, Triathlon, and Volleyball.
Editing by Andi Abdussalam
Reporter: Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
