Malaysia: Don't blame, Indonesia doing all to fight fires, says DPM

JASTIN AHMAD TARMIZI The Star 22 Oct 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not pressure Indonesia over the worsening haze as it has shown its commitment to tackle the problem, said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic).

The Deputy Prime Minister said it was not fair the blame Indonesia on the issue as Indonesian leaders had already asked for assistance from neighbouring countries to fight the raging fires in Sumatra.

"It is not fair for us to blame Indonesia. Instead we have to assist them to overcome this problem which is a transboundary problem," Dr Ahamd Zahid told a press conference at the Putrajaya International Security Dialogue here on Thursday.

Dr Ahmad Zahid added that he had personally given his suggestion on how to tackle the fires to Indonesian leaders.

The haze which has led to air quality reaching very unhealthy levels in the peninsula was caused by widespread clearing of oil palm plantations in Indonesia.


‘We’ll not pressure Indonesia’
JASTIN AHMAD TARMIZI The Star 23 Oct 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will not pressure Indonesia over the haze issue as the neighbouring country has already shown high commitment to overcome the matter, said Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

The Deputy Prime Minister said Indonesian leaders had already asked for assistance from neighbouring countries to work together to battle the haze.

“We have to assist them to overcome this problem which is a transboundary issue,” he told a press conference after delivering his keynote address at the Putrajaya International Security Dialogue (PISD) here yesterday.

He added that Malaysia was prepared to share its best practices in oil palm cultivation with Indonesia in the effort to reduce fires and had personally proposed to the Indonesian President (Joko Widodo).

Dr Ahmad Zahid cited the example of the system used by TH Plantation Bhd in Riau, where in between every two rows of oil palms, a drain was built to channel water to the plants and to prevent any fire from spreading if it happened.

He said it was however up to the Indonesian government to introduce the best oil palm cultivation system as factors such as costs and getting the cooperation of plantations and smallholders had to be considered.

The haze afflicting Malaysia is a result of widespread clearing of forests in Indonesia for oil palm plantations, most of which are caused by traditional slash-and-burn methods used by smallholders.

After a courtesy call from Aus­tralian Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton, Dr Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia and Australia had agreed to share expertise in fighting terrorism threats.

Dr Ahmad Zahid said Malaysia would benefit from Australia’s advanced border control experience while Australia could learn from Malaysia’s rehabilitation and deradicalisation of extremist programmes.

‘Only 3pc of burning by multinational companies’
New Straits Times 11 Oct 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: Regular burning by oil palm smallholders in Kalimantan and Central Sumatra, rather than multinational companies, are the main culprits behind forest fires that is causing the haze in Malaysia.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar yesterday said information from Indonesian authorities showed that just three per cent of the burning was done by multinational companies, and that the prolonged dry season had caused the fires to go out of control.

He said these conditions could continue until March unless large amounts of rain doused the peat fires.
However, Wan Junaidi said, conditions were not expected to deteriorate to a level forcing the government to declare an emergency.

He said Malaysia would continue to provide assistance to Indonesia, and that a Bombardier water-bombing aircraft, which was recalled on Tuesday for maintenance, would be despatched back to Sumatra.

“What we can hope for now is for rain to come and put out the fires in Indonesia. On our part here, cloud-seeding will be carried out in areas with Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of above 150.”

Wan Junaidi said a Department of Environment (DoE) study found that the contribution of vehicle fumes to the haze was increasing.

He advised people to reduce using private vehicles by carpooling or taking public transport.

“Cars caught in traffic jams release large amounts of carbon gases, which mix with suspended particles from the haze.”

Wan Junaidi said DoE had arrived at the conclusion after studying the southern parts of the Klang Valley, such as Banting and Cheras, which had high API readings.

Meanwhile, he said there was no yellow haze in Malaysia that had been reported in Indonesia.