Indonesian Government Skips Court Hearing Over West Kalimantan Forest Fires

PONTIANAK, Indonesia, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Indigenous and civil-society organisations in Indonesia's West Kalimantan criticised the national government for failing to attend the first court proceedings in their class action suit seeking to hold it responsible for the haze engulfing the province.

Judges adjourned the hearing on Wednesday until October 21 due to the government's absence from the proceedings in the provincial capital of Pontianak on Borneo.

• The suit claims the government was negligent in failing to prevent and adequately deal with forest and land fires that burn every year.

• Indonesia is battling its most intense wildfires in 11 years, mainly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, and the government has warned that the fires could continue until November, aggravated by the El Niño weather pattern.

• Yakobus Kumis, a plaintiff representing a Dayak ethnic group, expressed disappointment that central government representatives did not attend the hearing.

• "They did not show up. This is a way of the central government teaching the people that violating the law is okay," Yakobus said.

• Yakobus said the government ignored warning signs ahead of the fires breaking out, and called for the situation to be classified as a national disaster.

• The presidential office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

• The plaintiffs are the West Kalimantan chapter of the Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago, the West Kalimantan branch of Catholic Youth, Perkumpulan Laman Punyung Indonesia and an individual, Sisilius Rami, a court filing showed.

• The fires and haze have caused a spike in respiratory illnesses, and shrouded neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore in hazardous smog.

(Reporting by Soepriyadi Gunawan in Pontianak; Writing by Stanley Widianto; Editing by John Mair)