As Sarawak is shrouded in thick and chocking haze, outraged residents are targeting their anger at neighbouring Kalimantan for its open burning of forests.

An opposition group today said it is considering sending a strongly-worded memorandum to the Indonesian government.

State PKR leader and lawyer Dominique Ng Kim Ho, who is currently in Limbang to attend a court hearing, said he would treat the memorandum as a matter of urgency on his return to Kuching.

According to Ng, the open burning is in progress in Kalimantan as large areas are allegedly being cleared for oil palm cultivation. "There is apparently a lack of enforcement," he lamented.

With the winds blowing smog from Indonesian territory into Kuching Division in particular, the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading looks likely to rise above 200 within the next few days if there is no rain.

Visibility in Kuching dropped to below 500 metres in some places today, increasing concern that there could be a return to the days in 1997 when the API reading hit 800.

Hot spots have been detected in areas closer to Kuching, such as Samarahan and Sri Aman, where large tracts of secondary jungles are being cleared for oil palm.

'Punish guilty parties'

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak senior lecturer in social sciences, Dr Andrew Aeria, noted that politicians in the region have not carried out their promise to end transboundary haze.

"In 1997, after the first horrible episode of haze, Asean politicians told us they were going to set up a regional environmental mechanism to sort out this problem," he said in an email response.

"They have said this again and again over the last decade. And yet, this recurrent haze proves that they have done nothing except talk. They have lied to us. They have betrayed us. The haze is still here and as terrible as ever.

"Asean has utterly no moral authority - it is nothing but a talk shop of diplomatic buffoons and liars."

In questioning the lack of social responsibility of the Malaysian and Indonesian governments, Aeria said they have not acted to protect the health of citizens.

"Why are these two governments so utterly impotent in acting against greedy and unconscionable plantation companies... that are openly burning forests? Is the health of ordinary citizens who dutifully pay taxes that sustain government not important?

"Are we going to blame this haze on God again as an excuse to protect greedy and guilty plantation companies?"

A form of eco-terrorism

He described the annual choking haze as "nothing less than eco-terrorism".

Both Malaysia and Indonesia invest billions to preserve national security and to protect ordinary people from terrorists, he said.

"Why can we not invest in protecting ordinary people from eco-terrorist plantation companies? It wouldn't cost billions (of ringgit) to educate and if necessary, discipline plantation companies into being more socially and environmentally responsible."

He said the directors and managers of plantations should be charged in court and if found guilty, sentenced to long jail terms for deliberately poisoning of the health of millions and for destroying the environment. Their companies should also be dissolved immediately.

Enhancing shareholder value and company profits via open burning is not an excuse for poisoning the lives of millions and for disrupting economic activities of others in the region, he added.