Malaysia maintains close coordination with Indonesia to tackle forest fire impacts

The Malaysian government continues to maintain close coordination with the Indonesian government in addressing forest and land fires (karhutla), the smoke from which has reached Malaysian territory.

“Our Environment Minister has sent a letter to the Indonesian Environment Minister and has been in verbal communication and so on,” said the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, Farzamly Sarkawi, following the Malaysia Day celebrations in Jakarta on Tuesday night.

He revealed that Indonesia has granted permission to Malaysia to conduct weather modification operations in the form of cloud seeding in the border areas of both countries. “These efforts have already commenced there,” he added.

Farzamly expressed hope that these border-region measures could assist in extinguishing the fires occurring on Kalimantan Island and alleviate the haze situation affecting Malaysia.

“We certainly hope the situation can recover quickly. We are also prepared to assist whenever requested,” he said.

Regarding joint actions at the ASEAN level, the Malaysian Chargé d’Affaires confirmed that his side is also continuing to coordinate with Singapore, in addition to Indonesia, to utilise ASEAN mechanisms related to forest fires.

However, Farzamly reminded that joint ASEAN actions can only be implemented if a consensus is reached among all member states.

Haze resulting from forest fires in Indonesia has been reported to reach the Sabah and Sarawak regions in Malaysia, and subsequently Singapore, Brunei, and even the Philippines, including the capital, Manila.

On 5 September, the Malaysian government even declared a haze emergency for the entire Serian district in the state of Sarawak, which borders Indonesia, though the declaration was lifted shortly thereafter.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has ensured that Indonesia continues to coordinate with neighbouring countries and utilises existing ASEAN mechanisms to tackle the impact of forest fires in the Southeast Asian region.

The ASEAN framework being optimised in this regard is the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, which was signed in 2002.