KL calls for global help to tackle forest fires
KL calls for global help to tackle forest fires
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysia's leaders yesterday called for global help to tackle forest fires the pollution from which, they said, is affecting the health and well-being of people in most parts of Southeast Asia.
Thick smoke and haze caused by raging forest fires in Indonesia have blanketed Malaysia and Singapore since the middle of last month, spreading more recently to Brunei and drifting towards Thailand, according to meteorological experts here.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said developed nations with appropriate fire-fighting equipment should come to the region's rescue if they considered tropical rainforests the heritage of mankind.
"They should not sit back and watch the heritage being destroyed and in the process worsening global warming," Mahathir was quoted by Bernama news agency as telling Malaysian journalists in Ashgabat at the end of his visit to Turkmenistan.
Mahathir's call came shortly after his deputy Anwar Ibrahim pleaded at the 49th United Nations General Assembly in New York for global aid to help put out the forest fires in Southeast Asia.
"Hundreds of thousands of hectares of virgin forests are burning and valuable species are being lost," Anwar said in his address at the assembly as reported by Bernama.
Mahathir also said the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), grouping Malaysia, with Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and the Philippines, should pool resources to fight the frequent outbreak of forest fires in Indonesia.
Fighting such fires is costly and ASEAN members could ill- afford to do it individually, Mahathir said, adding that he had discussed the problem with Indonesia's President Soeharto when they met in Jakarta recently.
"But collectively we may be able to have some capacity," Mahathir said, echoing Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok's recent suggestion for joint efforts to tackle the haze.
Mahathir said he was not sure whether the forest fires in Indonesia had directly caused the severe air pollution in the region, but he was certain they contributed to it. "They should not go unchecked," he said.
A Malaysia-Singapore joint environment panel on Wednesday called for an urgent ASEAN plan to help Indonesia combat the fires.