Malaysia says Jakarta promises: No haze next year

NURADZIMMAH DAIM New Straits Times 2 Nov 15;

KUALA LUMPUR: The Indonesian government has given its assurance that the perennial haze problem will no longer be an issue next year.

Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said Jakarta, via a meeting involving its Environment and Forestry Ministry on Oct 27, had once again given its assurance that it would adopt preparatory actions to address the forest fires.

"Indonesia had expressed its willingness to finalise the draft of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the subject presented to both countries after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had met president Joko Widodo on Oct 11," he told the Dewan Rakyat.

Wan Junaidi was responding to a supplementary question by Datuk Ahmad Fauzi Zahari (BN-Setiawangsa) who had asked about measures taken by Indonesia to enable Asean countries to be haze-free by 2018.

The minister said one of the proposed measures to address haze issues in the region included the improvement of the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) in Singapore for information-sharing among members so that a coordinated effort can be arranged to put out forest fires when they occur.

This, he said, was because such fires also occur in Cambodia, Laos and northern Thailand although the intensity differs as these countries do not have huge peat soil areas.

Peat soils are vastly available in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The other initiative, he said, is the Alert Levels, Trigger Points and Actions on Fire Suppression incorporated in the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution.

These two measures were agreed upon during the 11th Conference of Parties (COP) to the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution held in Hanoi, Vietnam recently.

"Appropriate actions must be taken by state members according to the alert level (issued by ASMC). However, there are concerns on the administration in Indonesia as the affected provinces need to declare a state of emergency before central (administration) can take action (on forest fires).

“If it is not declared, Jakarta will not take action. We expect some challenges until this matter is addressed at Indonesian level," said Junaidi in reply to a supplementary question by Datuk Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani).

He said the ministry has yet to determine whether Malaysian companies were involved with the forest fires which had contributed to the haze.

It was previously reported that the bilateral MoU to address the haze is expected to be signed by the year-end after a meeting between both governments to finalise the draft was postponed twice.