Malaysia is keeping firefighting assistance available for Indonesia as officials await a full response on what support Jakarta would accept for forest fires linked to regional haze, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said.
At the Oct. 23 Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim again made the offer, Fahmi said. The Star/Asia News Network reported that Fahmi made the remarks at a news conference.
Fahmi said Malaysia remained ready to provide firefighting assets, but Indonesia had not yet given a complete response on the type of help it would accept. Staff at Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry and Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry are waiting for more information from their Indonesian counterparts, he said.
Fahmi said the Cabinet had received a briefing that Indonesian authorities had acted against 11 companies. As of Oct. 23, Fahmi said, no Malaysian companies had been found involved in forest burning in Indonesia.
Malaysia had earlier offered assistance and proposed coordination through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) while Indonesian crews fought fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, as EconoTimes reported in its coverage of the offer.
