Indonesia denies haze crossing into Malaysia

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government, through its Environment and Forestry Ministry (KLHK), has denied allegations that haze from forest and land fires in Indonesia was crossing into Malaysia.

Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said Malaysia’s complaint about Indonesian haze was not accurate.

“We have been monitoring the situation, and there is no transboundary haze reaching Malaysia,” she said in a statement here yesterday.

She added that her ministry had received haze distribution images from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency and the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) for the period Sept 28-30, up until 4pm yesterday WIB (Western Indonesian Time).

Based on ASMC’s observations, Siti Nurbaya said that for several days, the haze was moderate to dense in several areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

On Oct 1, the haze began to thicken in Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra. Nevertheless, there was no cross-border haze observed, she added.

ASMC is a regional collaborative programme among the national meteorological services of Asean countries.

It operates under Singapore’s Meteorological Service.

Meanwhile, based on satellite observations by the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency, images of haze distribution in Indonesian regions over those three days showed the haze present in several areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

The prevailing wind direction in Indonesia is generally from the southeast to the northwest and northeast, and no cross-border haze has been detected, said Siti Nurbaya.

“So it’s clear, both sources confirm that there is no cross-border haze,” she added.

Currently, the Indonesian government is continuing its efforts to extinguish forest and peat fires in South Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and several islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan, as well as parts of Java.

These efforts range from ground firefighting to water bombing and weather modification technology.

KLHK has revealed that 203 companies have received warnings, and 20 companies have been sealed due to their involvement in the fires.

This includes subsidiaries of Malaysian companies.

“The Indonesian government continues to work hard to address this issue,” said Siti Nurbaya. — Bernama-Antara