"Singapore please come and tackle the haze because the effect is also felt by Singapore," Liputan6 quotes Mr Jusuf Kalla as saying.
Channel NewsAsia 12 Sep 15;
SINGAPORE: Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla has invited the Singapore Government to help resolve the haze crisis in Sumatra and Kalimantan, according to a report by SCTV's Liputan6 television news programme.
"Singapore is ready to help. So, I think, please do ... because Singapore also knows that a natural disaster can happen anywhere," he was quoted as saying on Tuesday (Sep 15).
"Singapore please come and tackle the haze because the effect is also felt by Singapore. We, not to mention Singapore, dislike (the haze). Everyone dislikes it and we have put in extra effort to tackle the fires," Mr Kalla added.
His comments came after Singapore's Ministry of Defence confirmed that Jakarta accepted the Singapore Armed Forces' offer to send C-130s for cloud seeding and Chinooks for large water buckets to douse fires, only to decline it later.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo subsequently ordered the mobilisation of hundreds more troops and enforcement officers to tackle the forest fires which have caused air quality to reach hazardous levels in Riau.
Mr Kalla had previously criticised Indonesia's neighbours for complaining about annual transboundary haze caused by Sumatra forest fires. "For 11 months, they enjoyed nice air from Indonesia and they never thanked us. They have suffered because of the haze for one month and they get upset," he said in March.
On Tuesday, the vice-president stressed that firm action would be taken against those involved in land and forest fires, and said sanctions would be meted out accordingly, reported Liputan6.
Mr Widodo also pledged this week to crack down on companies and individuals behind the fires. "The president's instruction is clear - law enforcement must be firm so that this will not happen again next year," national police chief Badrodin Haiti told reporters late Wednesday.
- CNA/al
Jusuf Kalla wants Singapore’s help to fight haze
Today Online 18 Sep 15;
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.
