Residents on Indonesia's Borneo take their grievances over 3-month fires and choking haze to court

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A group of residents on Indonesia's island of Borneo have accused the government of negligence in handling forest fires that have been raging there for more than three months. The hearings in the case started this week, the group's lawyer said on Friday.

The residents from West Kalimantan province on Borneo claim authorities were negligent in handling the fires and allege that there was also negligence in supervision of the firefighting actions, according to Gloria Sanen, the lawyer of the group.

The residents call their group Nafas Kalbar, which in Indonesian means “Breath of West Kalimantan,” she said. The case was filed before the court in the provincial city of Pontianak last month.

It accuses 27 individuals and agencies, including the Indonesian president and vice president, the ministries of forestry and environment, as well as law enforcement officials and local authorities.

Indonesia’s longstanding forest and land fires have worsened this year amid an intensifying El Nino and a prolonged dry season, not only in the Indonesian part of Borneo but also in some regions on Sumatra island. Water shortages in the areas have hampered firefighting, while Japan has deployed firefighting assistance to the island.

Both President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka have visited areas near the wildfires on Borneo.

The residents also say that weeks later, they still live with thick haze and toxic smoke that have affected their daily lives and the health of their children and disrupted transportation. Students in the affected areas have not been able to attend school for two months, Sanen said.

“I think that’s unfair to all of us,” she added.

Tono, the head of the West Kalimantan Indigenous Peoples Alliance who goes by only one name, said the lawsuit that his community has joined is "not intended to find fault with the government, but to urge the state to fulfill its responsibility to protect the public and the environment, and to ensure that forest and land fires do not continue to recur.”

Toxic haze and smoke have caused a health crisis in neighboring countries as well. The smoke has drifted as far as the Philippines, more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) away. In Malaysia, authorities declared an emergency last week in Sarawak on Malaysia's part of Borneo.

Four Malaysian states shuttered schools on Friday amid concerns over students' health as the haze worsened.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday that he had earlier spoken to Subianto about the issue and urged the Indonesian president to take “immediate and effective action” to address “the root causes of the haze.”

“The worsening haze situation is deeply worrying, particularly its impact on public health,” Ibrahim added, saying Malaysia is "standing ready to cooperate” and urging Southeast Asian environment ministers to coordinate a regional response.

In recent months, concerns over El Nino-driven dry conditions have prompted Malaysia and Singapore to strengthen fire prevention, prepare for drought and intensify regional cooperation through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN.

Associated Press writer Eileen NG in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.