San Francisco Frontiers - Indonesian court hears 'negligence' complaint against state over fires, haze

Four plaintiffs, including a local chapter of Indigenous NGO AMAN, filed the class action lawsuit last month at a court in Pontianak in West Kalimantan province.

The region has been hit hard by fires and smoke that have shuttered schools and forced hundreds to seek medical help for respiratory ailments.

President Prabowo Subianto and the governor of West Kalimantan are among 10 defendants.

The plaintiffs' lawyer Glorio Sanen said after the first hearing that the case was "a step to address the problem" of annual wildfires blamed largely on forest destruction and fuelled this year by an exceptionally intense episode of the drought-causing El Nino weather phenomenon.

Indonesia has for weeks battled to control fires that have burned through vast swathes of Sumatra, Papua and Borneo, spewing a choking smog as far as Malaysia and Singapore.

None of the defendants were present, according to an AFP reporter in the courtroom on Wednesday.

"We feel sad and regretful about their absence... But on the other hand, we also understand that perhaps this haze condition caused them to be unable to land in Pontianak," Glorio told reporters.

Hundreds of flights have been disrupted by the putrid smoke.

The plaintiffs have accused the government of "gross negligence" for failing to address what has been a recurring problem, according to a court filing seen by AFP.

They want the government to declare a national disaster allowing for comprehensive recovery and rehabilitation measures that would include covering the healthcare costs of affected residents.

A similar lawsuit filed last year at a court in South Sumatra was dismissed.

J.Scott--SFF