Kalimantan hotspots may not cause haze in Sarawak — Wan Junaidi

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Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar

Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar

SIBU: Hotspots detected in Kalimantan, Indonesia may not cause the return of transboundary haze in Sarawak.

Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dato Sri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said such haze usually only occurs when there are fire outbreaks in Indonesia.

“There are several hotspots detected in Kalimantan, which may affect Lundu, Bau and Kuching. But owing to only very few hotspots, the haze might not reach Sarawak,” he told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.

“Peninsula also the same, previously in 2015, fires were raging in Riau region but the hotspots seen now are widely distributed all over Sumatra. The smoky haze may not reach the Peninsula, not at that rate of hotspots.”

He was commenting on the possibility of transboundary haze occurring in the state or other parts of the country following the detection of several hotspots in Kalimantan by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre on Monday.

“We just hope that the Indonesian authority keeps its word when their ministers assured me during the meetings that I had with them in August 2015,” he added.