Indonesian fire fighters extinguish a fire in a land next to residence in Pekanbaru, Riau province. — AFP photo
SEMARANG: Malaysia hope that Indonesia can tackle the problems of forest and plantation fires quickly because the current haze is also adversely affecting Malaysia and Singapore.
Malaysian ambassador to Indonesia, Zainal Abidin Bakar said that Malaysia was always ready to assist Indonesia to put out the forest fires if it was needed.
‘’Malaysia appreciate the efforts done by Malaysia (to tackle the fires) but we hope the problem can be overcome quickly because the haze is also affecting Malaysia and Singapore,’’ he said after launching the 2020 Visit Malaysia Year programme here today.
He said that Malaysia would take firm action against Malaysian plantation companies found to be involved in open burning activities in Indonesia.
Recently, Indonesian president Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that Indonesia was now doing ‘’everything’’ in the effort to tackle the forest and plantation fires which were causing acute haze in several provinces in the republic.
Over 10,000 personnel including the police and soldiers were now working hard to put out the fires in several provinces in Indonesia such as in Kalimantan, Jambi, Riau and South Sumatera.
Since January, over 300,000 hectares of forest and plantations were on fire in several provinces in Indonesia. – Bernama