Jusuf Kalla wants Singapore’s help to fight haze

JAKARTA — Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has reportedly invited Singapore to help tackle the haze emanating from fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, a departure from remarks earlier this year in which he dismissed the Republic’s concerns over the yearly affliction.

“Singapore is ready to help, so I think, please do, because Singapore also knows a natural disaster can occur anywhere,” Mr Kalla reportedly told Indonesian news outlet Liputan6 on Tuesday (Sept 15) at his office in Jakarta.

He also said: “Singapore, please come (to help tackle the haze) because it also affects Singapore. We, not to mention Singapore, also dislike (the haze). Everyone dislikes it. We have put in extra efforts (to tackle the fires).”

However, Indonesian Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar struck a different note yesterday (Sept 17), telling CNN Indonesia that her country has declined Singapore’s offer to help. She was quoted saying that Indonesia is “still trying to handle it ourselves”, reported Jakarta Globe.

The haze has resulted in a state of emergency called in Riau and has also shrouded other parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore this month.

Singapore’s Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen have reached out to their Indonesian counterparts, offering an assistance package that includes a C-130 aircraft for cloud seeding operations, a Chinook helicopter with a water bucket for aerial fire-fighting, and up to two C-130 aircraft to ferry the Singapore Civil Defence Force fire-fighting assistance team.

Indonesia and Malaysia have conducted cloud seeding and Indonesia has also moved to take haze offenders to task. The Indonesian police has named at least seven companies and 133 individuals suspected of using fires to clear land in Sumatra and Kalimantan, the Jakarta Post reported yesterday.

The Indonesian police released acronyms of seven companies, but one of the suspected companies, PT Bumi Mekar Hijau, has denied wrongdoing and said none of its executives have been arrested, the Indonesian news outlet reported.

Mr Kalla had in March denounced Singapore and Malaysia for complaining about the haze caused annually by forest and plantation fires in Indonesia.

“For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and never thanked us. They have suffered because of the haze for a month and they get upset,” he had said.

His comments echoed that of former Coordinating Minister for People’s Welfare Agung Laksono in 2013, chiding Singapore for “behaving like a child” in response to the haze, which breached the 400-mark on the Pollutant Standards Index that year.

Then-Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono later apologised to Singapore and Malaysia for the pollution caused by forest fires in his country.