A satellite image by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (Nasa) showed that the wildfires in Sarawak were almost as serious as those in its neighbour Kalimantan during the peak of a recurring haze over the state two weeks ago.

A reader alerted malaysiakini today about the image

which was acquired and posted on the Nasa earth observatory website on Aug 19.

"Haze from fires is thick over the Indonesian island of Borneo. Scores of wildfires (red dots) were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) on the Terra satellite," read the caption below the image.

There were two main clusters of hotspots spreading over the southern border of Sarawak and Kalimantan.

A letter

from another reader on Tuesday also pointed to satellite pictures for Aug 23, posted on the Singapore National Environment Agency's website, which showed at least two major hotspots in Sarawak.

"They are clearly identifiable and are located in the Bintulu/Miri region, a region hosting thousands upon thousands of hectares of oil palm estates run by large plantation companies," the reader wrote.

When asked, an official at Sarawak Department of Environment said Malaysia should not be held responsible for the haze two weeks ago which had caused public concern about health hazard and disrupted air traffic.

"It is not right to say that. We did not have as many hotspots as Kalimantan did. It had a maximum of over 800 hotspots at one time but we had not more than 30 hotspots over the last two weeks.

"The main cause of the haze was still Kalimantan. But the situation is better now, as of yesterday. Our report indicated that there was no hotspot in either Sarawak and Kalimantan," said the official.

Shifting cultivation

He said while native padi farmers, through shifting cultivation, could have contributed to some wildfires, this was not as bad as the land-clearing practice in Kalimantan which is done on a massive scale.

Two weeks ago, Sarawak Social Development and Urbanisation Minister Dr James Jemut also denied that the farmers who burn their farms for cultivation were responsible for the haze.

"Shifting cultivation has been practised in Sarawak for ages and it alone could not contribute to the problems now faced by the state," he reportedly said.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad had said that Indonesia did not have lots of money to put out the fires and faced problems enforcing the law to stop forest fires.

The relief from the blanket of haze came about last week when rain fell in various parts of Sarawak due to cloud-seeding operations. Following this, the air quality was raised to 'moderate' from the 'unhealthy' level.

The region has been haunted by recurring problems of haze since 1991, the worst thus far in 1997, reaching hazardous levels in Sarawak. Malaysia has constantly denied responsibility for the phenomenon which reappears annually during the dry season of July to October.