Malaysia offers forest fire relief in Indonesia

JAKARTA, Sept. 17: Malaysia offers assistance to Indonesia in dealing with forest fires that have also caused cross-border debris, particularly in Sarawak, by providing a Bombardier CL-415MP amphibious aircraft belonging to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (APMM), three helicopters and 52 officers and members.

Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the offer was presented to Indonesian Vice President, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, in a meeting at the Palace of the Vice President, Jakarta, today.

He said the offer would be presented to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto for approval by the Indonesian government.

He, who is also the Chairman of the Central Bencana Committee said Malaysia sees the issue of forest fires and cross-border dust as a shared challenge that requires close cooperation between the two countries without an approach to mutual blame.

"As a neighboring and friendly country, Malaysia is always ready to offer assistance and cooperation. So this effort we do not intend to interfere in Indonesian affairs but we intend to help so that the dust problems coming to Sarawak in particular can be resolved as soon as possible", he told reporters today.

He said disaster prevention aspects need to be taken into consideration as forest fires occur every year.

Ahmad Zahid said that the entire assets have been placed at the highest level of readiness to be moved to assist firefighting operations once it receives approval from the Indonesian Government.

He said that cooperation between the two countries should not be limited to disaster response efforts, but rather extended to long-term mitigation and prevention measures.

He said the measures included information sharing, coordination of operations and early action to prevent similar incidents from happening again every year.

He said that both countries are also aware that dust does not know borders and affects airspace, health and lives of the people.

In this regard, he said, a joint settlement should be the priority of Malaysia and Indonesia.

Malaysia also appreciates Indonesia's agreement to allow the use of airspace on the border with Borneo for the implementation of Operation Cloud Shutdown by Malaysia. -TVS