Today Online 25 Sep 15;
SINGAPORE — Indonesia should not have to apologise to its neighbours for the haze, Vice President Jusuf Kalla reportedly told Indonesians yesterday (Sept 24).
In a near repeat of a statement he had made in March this year, Mr Kalla reportedly said that Indonesia’s neighbours should be thankful for the months of fresh air that the nation’s forests bring.
The Indonesian news site Kompas quoted Mr Kalla as telling a group of Indonesians at a dialogue session at the Indonesian Consulate General in New York: “How many months do you think everybody (our neighbours) enjoys the fresh air from our green environment and our forests when there are no fires? It could be months. Are they thankful? But when forest fires occur, it at most lasts for a month, the haze pollutes their territories. So why should we apologise?”
In March, Mr Kalla had said, as quoted by the Jakarta Globe: “For 11 months, they (our neighbours) enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us. They have suffered because of the haze for one month and they get upset.”
In addition, Mr Kalla also reportedly said yesterday that companies from neighbouring countries were paying locals to clear lands using the slash-and-burn technique.
Mr Kalla also claimed that it was foreigners, who needed land between 1960-1970, who initially taught Indonesians how to destroy the forests. “As a result, in the name of development, our forests were cut down,” Mr Kalla said.
The Indonesian Vice President did say that Indonesia must handle the forest fire issue so that the haze will not happen again.
He added that besides preventing forest fires, the government has issued a ban on logging and a moratorium on land use, including opening new land for plantations.
