West Kalimantan Receives 6 Pump Machine Assistance From Malaysian Government To Overcome Forest And Land Fires

Illustration of BPBD officers extinguishing forest and land fires. (Antaranews)

The West Kalimantan (West Kalimantan) government received assistance in the form of six units of water pump machines from the Malaysian Government to assist in efforts to deal with forest and land fires (karhutla) in the province.

"The handover of this water pump assistance is in order to provide supporting facilities to anticipate the handling of forest and land fires that occurred in the West Kalimantan region," said West Kalimantan Governor Sutarmidji in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, Friday, August 11, as reported by Antara.

According to Sutarmidji, the assistance is also a form of commitment and a reflection of the good relations that have been built between Indonesia and Malaysia as a complete and direct bordering country.

"We appreciate the assistance provided by the Malaysian Consulate. So, we have often carried out this collaboration, considering that the plantations in West Kalimantan are quite wide and large, and it is undeniable that one of the investors is from Malaysia," he explained.

In addition, cooperation between Indonesia, especially the Government of West Kalimantan, and Malaysia has also often been carried out.

"What is clear is that we as neighboring countries continue to strive to maintain and increase cooperation in any field; including during COVID-19 yesterday, we experienced a shortage of oxygen and it was thanks to a collaboration with the Malaysian Consulate, no more than 24 hours we were able to bring oxygen to people in need," said Sutarmidji.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Malaysian Consulate Azizul Zekri Bin Abd Rahim revealed that the handover of the water pump machine to the West Kalimantan Provincial Government was a form of synergy between the two parties and good diplomatic relations as neighboring countries.

"Of course, the activity we carried out today was to hand over a water pump engine as a form of our synergy both from the Malaysian Government and Indonesia, especially in West Kalimantan, to anticipate weather changes, such as the El Nino phenomenon which could cause forest and land fires. Of course, this incident did not only occur in West Kalimantan, but also had an impact on several countries and even Malaysia itself," said Azizul Zekri.