Indonesians take fight against haze into their own hands

Volunteers extinguishing a peatland fire in the outskirts of Palangkaraya. -AFP

PALANGKARAYA, Indonesia: Desperate civilians at the epicentre of Indonesia’s haze crisis are taking the fight into the own hands, using whatever meagre resources they have to confront the fires ravaging their communities as they tire of waiting for the government to take action.

Wearing an oversized T-shirt and ill-fitting rubber boots, 13-year-old Yosua Oktavianus assisted his father douse a fire burning outside their hometown in Borneo as acrid smoke belched from the scorched earth.