Indonesia details crackdown, firefighting efforts as haze chokes Malaysia

Indonesia has detailed a sweeping firefighting and enforcement operation against forest and land fires as worsening transboundary haze continues to affect large parts of Malaysia.

In a statement yesterday, the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur said Jakarta was deploying tens of thousands of personnel, aircraft and helicopters while pursuing individuals and companies linked to fires across several provinces.

The statement came as Malaysia continued to experience unhealthy air quality, with 37 areas recording unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings as of 9.30am yesterday.

Seremban recorded the highest reading at 186, followed by Nilai at 183 and Port Dickson at 174.

The worsening haze has also prompted school closures in several states.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Thursday that he had personally contacted Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto over what he described as “alarming” haze conditions.

Anwar (above) said Prabowo agreed to take the necessary measures, and Malaysia also offered Indonesia assistance.

He further instructed Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan to seek an urgent meeting of Asean environment ministers.

Against this backdrop, the Indonesian embassy said Jakarta “expresses its deep concern and sincere empathy” to the Malaysian government and public over deteriorating air quality and the impact of haze on daily life and health.

555 hotspots detected

As of Oct 6, Indonesian authorities detected 555 high-confidence hotspots through the country’s Sipongi satellite monitoring system.

Central Kalimantan accounted for 336 hotspots, followed by South Sumatra with 142, West Kalimantan with 48, South Kalimantan with 28 and Jambi with one.

Authorities also identified 193 active fire spots covering approximately 748ha targeted for firefighting operations.

According to the embassy, ground and aerial operations extinguished about 560.6ha, or roughly 75 percent of the targeted area.

Indonesia subsequently recorded 1,201 high-confidence hotspots nationwide on Oct 7, according to figures reported by Bernama, indicating that fire activity remained substantial after the embassy’s Oct 6 data cut-off.

198 suspects, companies investigated

The embassy also highlighted enforcement against those suspected of causing forest and land fires.

Indonesian police are handling 247 reports involving individuals, with 198 people named as suspects.

Another 97 police reports involve corporations.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s Environment Ministry identified 57 business entities across eight provinces where a combined 33,514.01ha had burned within concession areas.

Of these, 16 entities were in Sumatra, involving 3,813.85ha, while 41 were in Kalimantan, involving 29,700.16ha.

The Forestry Ministry has also imposed administrative sanctions on 26 legal entities.

Five had their business licences revoked, another 13 had their licences suspended, while eight were issued written warnings or compulsory restoration orders.

Authorities are also pursuing criminal cases against 46 legal subjects, including 17 at the preliminary investigation stage and 27 at the investigation stage.

The latter involve five corporations and 22 individuals.

Tens of thousands deployed

Indonesia said it had deployed tens of thousands of personnel for ground firefighting operations across six provinces.

They include 14,837 personnel in Riau, 14,458 in West Kalimantan, 13,699 in Central Kalimantan, 12,285 in South Sumatra, 7,927 in South Kalimantan and 5,984 in Jambi.

Fifteen Casa aircraft have also been deployed for weather modification and cloud-seeding operations in West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra.

Another 35 water-bombing helicopters are operating in South Kalimantan, South Sumatra and Jambi.

Central Kalimantan is under emergency response status, while Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara and East Kalimantan are under emergency alert status.

The latest haze episode has revived calls in Malaysia for legislation allowing authorities to act against companies linked to fires abroad.

About 40 civil society representatives marched to Parliament on Tuesday calling for the government to expedite a transboundary haze law.

Their campaign (above) followed findings that Indonesia had identified thousands of haze-source hotspots, including within forestry and oil palm concessions linked to Malaysian and Singaporean business interests.

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