Environment Official Ready to Step Down

As dozens of fires spread thick smoke across the eastern side of Borneo, outspoken Environment Minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja said he was ready to leave office. The Jakarta Post newspaper quoted him as saying he did not expect to be reappointed to the Cabinet when President Suharto selects a new ministerial lineup this month. Last year, Sarwono made headlines when he blamed plantation and forestry companies, some of them linked to associates or relatives of Suharto, for the fires and haze. Hundreds of fires between July and November last year produced a haze over much of Southeast Asia.