Mahfud Make Sure There Is No Delivery Of Smoke Fog To Neighboring Countries

PHOTO OF BNPB DOC ILLUSTRATION

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD ensured that there were no shipments of smoke to neighboring countries due to forest and land fires (karhutla).

"There were no shipments of smoke as conveyed by several parties or as happened every year in the past. Now there is no more," said Coordinating Minister Mahfud as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, October 9.

This year, the El Nino phenomenon triggered an increase in hot spots compared to previous years, but the forest and land fires caused were smaller than a few years ago.

"When compared to El Nino in 2019, forest and land fires this year are still smaller and under control. We will continue to monitor the increasing hot spots, although not always hot spots become fire spots," he said.

Mahfud said that forest and land fires alerts continue to be carried out by the central, provincial and district governments, especially in areas where hotspots are widely distributed by conducting integrated patrols, including the National Police, related agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private parties by continuing to monitor hotspots.

"land operations will be prioritized and maximized, because our aircraft air operations are limited," he said.

The weather modification technology (TMC) continues Mahfud, continues to be carried out under the coordination of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), as well as carrying out water bombing efforts and so on.

Previously, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it had received an offer of assistance from the Malaysian government to deal with the problem of forest and land fires (karhutla) in Indonesia.

According to the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lalu Muhamad Iqbal, the offer was submitted by the Malaysian government through a letter sent to the Minister of Environment and Forestry of Indonesia.

"The essence of the letter conveyed the latest air quality conditions in Malaysia and Malaysian readiness to work together to deal with forest fires that occurred, if the Indonesian government needed it," said Iqbal.

Meanwhile, KLHK Minister Siti Nurbaya denied allegations of smog from forest and land fires that occurred in Indonesia passing to Malaysia.

"We continue to follow developments and there is no reboundary haze to Malaysia," said Minister Siti Nurbaya.

Data regarding smog from Indonesia not passing to Malaysia were obtained from reports of the image map of smoke dispersal from the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and The ASEAN Specialized Meteorological Center (ASMC) for the period 28-30 September 2023.

The wind direction in Indonesia is generally from southeast to northwest to northeast and there is no detectable cross-border smoke.