Malaysia offered help to fight Indonesia forest fires, says Dr M

PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Malaysia never asked Indonesia why it did not accept its offer of assistance to combat the haze-causing forest fires in the republic, says Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The Prime Minister said Malaysia had offered assistance to tackle the forest fires in Indonesia as it had water-bombing equipment.

When asked at a news conference why Indonesian President Joko Widodo, widely known as Jokowi, was not willing to accept Malaysia’s offer, Dr Mahathir said: "I don't know why.”

"Asking (Jokowi) why you do not want to receive our help? But I have never done that yet. Why don’t you ask (Jokowi)?” he said after chairing a meeting of the Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption here Thursday (Sept 19).

Asked how Malaysia will check the haze problem, the prime minister said: "We pray for rain. We try to do cloud-seeding and ask people to wear masks.”

Asked about the cost involved in conducting cloud-seeding, Dr Mahathir said he had not received information on the cost.

"But we have a suggestion now to use drones to form artificial rain. We can use several (drones), not one, in a particular area with regard to Putrajaya which is badly affected by haze, ” he said.

Haze from the forest fires in Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan, spread to Malaysia by the southwest monsoon winds, has reduced the air quality in many areas of the country. - Bernama