KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 4 — Indonesia’s plan to resolve the annual haze crisis in three years’ time through measures such as cracking down on open fires in its forests may prove to be too slow, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
The deputy prime minister said Malaysia hopes that Indonesia’s commitment to solve the annual haze problem will not be on paper only, but will be translated and implemented to end this problem.
“Malaysia welcomes that measure but three years may be too long,” he told reporters here.
“We know that the leadership and people of Indonesia are concerned towards what is happening, but we feel that the efforts are not yet enough to solve the problem because it is happening every year and we have to spend too much in medical costs, especially for those suffering from asthma,” he later said.
On September 29, the BBC reported Indonesian president Joko Widodo as saying that the haze problem cannot be solved quickly, with the latter also saying that measures such as building water reserves and canals in the forest, as well as better legal enforcement against burning in forests are being taken.
“You will see results soon and in three years we will have solved this,” he was quoted as telling the BBC.
Zahid said today he hoped that Indonesia can work together with other Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member countries to find long-term solutions to the decades-old haze problem.
He said Malaysia’s commitment was shown in its sending of Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar to carry out talks with his Indonesia counterparts.
While saying that it appeared as if Malaysia does not seek cooperation from Indonesia each time open forest fires happen there, Zahid sought to dispel that notion.
He pointed out that the Inspector-General of Police had issued a statement following a meeting on cross-border crime, which covered measures including the retraction of farming rights, invoking legal action by confiscating the land of errant land users and long-term measures to tackle overly-dry peat soil areas in forests which may self-combust.
The haze has forced Malaysia to order a closure of schools in certain states twice last month and also caused disruption to flights and brief airport closures.
Unhealthy air levels continue to worsen this morning especially in Selangor with Shah Alam hitting the hazardous level in the air pollutant index (API) reading (308), according to the Department of Environment (DOE).
As of 10am, five areas have breached the 200 or “very unhealthy” level. They are Banting (252), Port Klang (246), Petaling Jaya (257), Batu Muda (264) and Putrajaya (238).
Unhealthy to moderate readings were also observed nationwide except in areas in Sabah and Sarawak.
An API reading of 0 to 50 indicates good air quality; 51 to 100, moderate; 101 to 200, unhealthy; 201 to 300, very unhealthy; and 300 and above, hazardous.
