After thousands of extra personnel have been deployed to extinguish forest fires in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo threatened to fire military and police officers fighting the blazes if they were not successful on Tuesday, according to The South China Morning Post.
The fires are the worst to hit the region in nearly two decades, choking the Southeast Asian country with dense smog as Widodo promised to allocate more funds to use drones and other high-tech equipment to fight the fires.
Six provinces on the island of Sumatra and the province of Kalimantan on Borneo have declared a state of emergency due to the major fires.
"I phoned the military commander and the chief of police to tell them to replace those who can't resolve forest and land fires," Widodo told a coordinating meeting on tackling forest fires at the presidential palace. "Never underestimate hotspots. Immediately put out a small fire, don't wait until it gets bigger."
Indonesian officials detected 975 hotspots fo far this year, with nearly 135,000 hectares of land scorched across 18 provinces, according to Indonesia's Chief Security Minister Wiranto.
Widodo called on firefighters to use modern equipment, such as drones, to detect the hotspots earlier.
"If (the regional government budget) can't afford it, I'll buy it for you," said Widodo.
Indonesian farmers often resort to using fire to help clear land during the dry season, but those operations can quickly rage out of control and create a major hazard locally and even internationally since smog spreads to Singapore and Malaysia.
The country has seen the highest number of hotspots in 2019 since fires devastated Indonesia in 2015.
Widodo, who is scheduled to make an official visit to Malaysia and Singapore this week, has faced increasing pressure to end the practice of slash-and-burn land clearing to help spread palm and pulp plantations.
Malaysian authorities warned the public to avoid outdoor activities due to the increasing smoke from the fires in Indonesia.
Malaysia's environment ministry released a statement on Monday explaining it would call on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to take measures to prevent transboundary haze when five Southeast Asian countries meet in Brunei this week.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Rifka Majjid
