Singapore ready to support Indonesia’ haze tackilng efforts

Malaysia is cooked to give military services help to Indonesia ready for its take on launch shedding, Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said after Singapore spread a related present.

On Monday, Dr Ng had meetings with Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan and Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu.

The annual fires that have blanketed Southeast Asia in hazardous smoke are not a problem that can be easily solved and it will take three years to see results, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo said in an interview with the BBC published on Wednesday.

“We are pushing Indonesia to place priority on prevention and suppression, such as putting out forest fires while they are still small”, Halimah told a press conference at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry today. The Singapore Armed Forces has put a C-130 aircraft on standby for cloud seeding, a Chinook helicopter with a water bucket for aerial fire-fighting, and as many as two C-130 aircraft to ferry the city-state’s fire-fighting assistance team, according to the statement.

The Malaysian government along with several neighbouring countries are now pressuring Indonesia to prioritise on preventive and suppression measures to combat haze.

Ng stressed that whatever help Singapore is giving can not infringe on the sovereignty, as well as command and control of the operations. He said he was also assured to know that Mr Luhut is open to work with non-government organisations.

“If you let it drag, simple things like fighting the haze will affect bilateral ties and I don’t want this to happen”, he said, adding that an issue such as the haze warranted regional cooperation, if not bilaterally, then trilaterally and that it was something that would be discussed at the next Asean defence minister’s meeting. “I think better, quicker the solutions will be found”, said Dr Ng. He said Singapore would leave it to the decision of the worldwide agencies and would comply with whatever decision is made.