Indonesia warns to suspend business license of firms burning forest

The Indonesian government has threats to suspend business permit of companies burning forest during land clearing and punish their top officials with criminal penalty, a minister said here Wednesday.

Security Chief Minister Luhut Panjaitan made the statement after a meeting with President Joko Widodo at the State Palace. The two discussing the haze problem which has enveloped Singapore and Malaysia. "The meeting is about action. The suspension of business license will be carried out and the president (confirmed) on it..., we are serious to do," he said.

The minister revealed that five to 10 companies will be put on a black list status, which means they will not be allowed to operate in palm oil plantation business again and other commodities going forward.

But Luhut did not elaborate further.

For the last decade, the government has awarded 4.8 million hectares of peat lands to investors for palm oil plantations, according to him.

"If there are parts of the peat land are being burned now, ( the firm's) business license will be suspended," he stressed. The Indonesian government has dispatched soldiers and police investigators to handle the forest fire in Sumatra and Borneo islands and taken legal actions against firms and individuals allegedly burning the forest. The Indonesian government has sought to fine perpetrators of forest fires, particularly companies which have incurred choking haze in the region, disturbed flights and caused respiratory problem and huge economic loss.

Indonesia has been battered by such forest fires since the 1990s as the ensuing haze enveloped neighboring ASEAN countries and caused losses of billions of U.S. dollars.

Riau province, home to the world's largest palm oil industry, has endured forest fires as people burned land for new plantation. Endi