Jakarta: A company with an Australian link is being investigated by Indonesian police over a fire on a palm oil plantation in Borneo as the republic tries to crack down on companies responsible for the haze choking the region.
Kayung Agro Lestari, which has a palm oil plantation in Ketapang regency in West Kalimantan, is one of 42 companies being investigated over the forest fires.
The slash-and-burn technique of land clearing used by some palm oil and timber plantations is commonly blamed for starting the fires, which have created dangerous levels of air pollution in parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
The fires dog the region every year but have been exacerbated this year by El Nino and protracted drought in parts of Indonesia.
Malaysia has ordered all schools to close for two days because of the thick smog and the first night of finals at swimming's World Cup in Singapore was cancelled on Saturday.
Indonesian police told reporters that as of October 1 they were investigating 232 cases of forest and plantation fires. Forty-two cases involve corporations, including Kayung Agro Lestari.
Indonesian police spokesman Agus Rianto told Fairfax Media the information it had received was that Kayung Argo Lestari was an Australian PMA (foreign direct investment) company.
However a Kayung Agro Lestari spokesman said it was incorrect to refer to the company as an Australian company because only 0.01 per cent was owned by an Australian.
He said the company would try its best to prevent forest fires which also damaged the palm oil plantation.
West Kalimantan police spokesperson Arianto told Fairfax Media there was fire in Kayung Agro Lestari's concession.
"Therefore we are investigating the company," he said. "We have called witnesses from the local community, from the company itself and experts. We don't have any conclusions at the moment because the investigation is still ongoing."
In a statement late last month, Kayung Agro Lestari said that as of September 22, 356 hectares on its 17,998 concession had caught fire. "These fires were caused by windborne sparks from fires outside our plantation area," it said. "All of these fires have been put out by our team."
The statement said Kalimantan was facing an extremely dry climate and high winds. "Together they make the plantation vulnerable to outbreaks of fire, especially from wind-borne sparks originating in fires outside our plantation."
Kayung Agro Lestari said it was in daily coordination with the police and regional disaster management in fighting the fires and investigating their causes.
"The most serious outbreak PT KAL has witnessed was a fire affecting a large area of land just beside our plantation. Our team has worked together with the local authorities and communities to contain the fire. We also recorded that five orangutan fled from the fire and moved into our conservation area. As far as we can determine they are unharmed."
Rising global demand for palm oil, which is widely used in food and cosmetics, has led to the clearing of forests in Indonesian national parks, high levels of greenhouse gas emissions and the destruction of the habitat of endangered species including the Sumatran orangutan and tiger.
Kayung Agro Lestari is a subsidiary of PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya Agri, which is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.
Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil certification is an assurance to buyers of palm oil products that the standard of production is sustainable.
An earlier version of this story described Kayung Agro Lestari as an Australian company. This has been corrected to reflect that the percentage of ownership by an Australian individual is very small.
With Amilia Rosa
