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From: AFP
Date: 06 May 1999
Time: 05:41:01
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (AFP) - Malaysia and Indonesia Thursday attacked the international community for failing to produce promised aid to tackle forest fires which have stricken southeast Asia in recent years. "They (international community) have promised us (aid). But nothing is forthcoming," Malaysian Information Minister Mohamed Rahmat said.
"There is strong political will between us to tackle this problem to the maximum so there won't be a repetition of the last haze," he added, referring to choking smoke from forest fires which has enveloped the regio9n at different times since 1997.
Mohamed, Malaysia's national disaster relief and management committee chairman, said the international community was only "making a lot noise" when the haze crisis erupted in 1997.
"Don't just talk about it. Do something. They must show genuine efforts. But nevertheless we believe it is our problem," he added.
Malaysian and Indonesian authorities met here to discuss forest fires in Indonesia in an attempt to prevent a repeat of the particularly bad 1997 haze.
The two-day meeting of the joint-committee was a follow-up to an agreement reached by the two neighbouring countries to jointly tackle the problem.
Mohamed also gave an assurance the 1997 crisis would not recur and vowed there would not be any bureaucratic obstacles between the two countries to tackling the forest fires.
Malaysia and Indonesia are now prepared to fight any forest fires together, he said.
"I want to make it clear both governments are ready to battle forest fires or the haze. We are at maximum readiness to battle fires," he said.
"In 1997, we were not ready. No joint-committees. But now we have a common standard operation procedure."
Mohamed sought the assistance of the media not to "explode" the issue of the hot spots as it may scare away tourists who bring in much needed foreign exchange.
"We are trying to overcome the economic crisis. The inflow of tourists will help the economic recovery," he said.
On Friday Malaysian officials would demonstrate airborne fire-fighting capabilities using helicopters to their Indonesian counterparts.
Indonesian disaster relief head Haryono Suyono added: "We are together. No bureaucratic obstacles. The technical team will meet whenever the need arises."
Haryono, minister of social development and poverty eradication, also appealed to the international community for assistance.
"I hope the international donor community will come and provide real assistance to complement our efforts," he said.
Haryono also said Indonesia was prepared to tackle any forest fires as it now had a early warning system to identify hot spots and adopted two new measures.
The Indonesian government has roped in people living along jungle fringes and provided land grants to universities to be "eyes on the ground" to prevent forest fires.
Rosnani Ibarahim, Malaysia's director-general of environment said new hot spots have been located in both countries.
Hot spots had been detected on Indonesia's vast Sumatra island, as well as West Kalimantan province and Malaysia's Johor and Sarawak states, she told reporters.
Forest fires on Sumatra have entered the "dangerous category," officials said last week.
The fires, sparked by slash-and-burn land clearing, have raised new fears of haze spreading to neighbouring countries, they said.
Haze from the fires disrupted transport and business, caused health problems, including being blamed for some deaths, and scared off tourists.