JAKARTA: Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has agreed to accept assistance from neighbouring countries to tackle its worst forest fires in more than a decade, the country's foreign minister said.
Indonesia has come under heavy criticism after months of fierce wildfires that have caused respiratory problems for hundreds of thousands of people and spread thick haze into neighbouring countries, leading to school closures in Malaysia and East Timor.
Last month, Malaysia offered to deploy three helicopters, an aircraft, and 52 personnel to help contain the fires, but there has been no follow-up since. Singapore, another country badly affected by the haze, has also said it is ready to step in to help contain the fires.
"The President has already expressed his approval, and the matter is currently being discussed at the technical level within the BNPB," Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said, according to a voice recording shared by his ministry on Friday. BNPB is Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency.
The new chief of the agency, appointed on Thursday, said he is reviewing the types of assistance being offered and will decide which ones can be accelerated.
Malaysia's offer of assistance was being reviewed due to changing conditions in affected areas, Fahmi Fadzil, a spokesperson for the country's government, told a regular briefing on Friday.
"The fires have spread widely, so any assistance or assets that we had offered around a month ago need to be reassessed to ensure the help given is truly effective," Fahmi said, adding that discussions with Indonesian officials were ongoing.
No Malaysian palm oil firms have been linked to the fires, with most of the burning found to have started outside their plantation concessions, he said.
Last week, rights groups called on the government to take action against firms allegedly responsible for fires, including some Malaysian companies with operations in Indonesia.
The islands of Sumatra and Borneo, close to Singapore and Malaysia, have been the worst affected, with the fire able smoulder slowly beneath the surface of large stretches of peatland and re-emerge at any moment.
Fire also spread to the national park of Mount Bromo in East Java, where four people involved in fighting fires were killed, the Forestry Ministry said in a statement on Friday. Two others are undergoing medical treatment for severe burns. - Reuters
