KUALA LUMPUR: MALAYSIA has written to Indonesia expressing its concern over the rising number of hotspots in southern Sumatera and Kalimantan, which has caused parts of the country to be blanketed in haze.
The letter was sent by the Department of Environment director-general Datuk Halimah Hassan to her Indonesian counterpart two days ago. She urged Indonesia to take action over forest fires in west and central parts of the country.
According to the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre, 226 hotspots were detected in Indonesia yesterday based on satellite imagery from the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The number was a slight decrease from the previous day’s of 232.
In a statement yesterday, Halimah said smoke from the fires in the west and central Kalimantan, and the movement of wind from the southeast had led to trans- boundary pollution in Sarawak, which borders the western part of Kalimantan.
As at 10am yesterday, Kuching’s Air Pollutant Index (API) reading was at 99, Samarahan, 125, and Sri Aman, 106.
However at 5pm, Sri Aman’s API reading decreased to 96 while Kuching and Samarahan’s API stood at an unhealthy level of 110 and 113, respectively.
These areas had shown unhealthy readings in the last two days.
Following this, AFP reported that Indonesia’s parliament on Tuesday had voted to ratify a regional agreement on cross-border haze as fires ripped through forests in the west of the country.
“Under the agreement, Indonesia is obliged to strengthen its policies on forest fires and haze, actively participate in regional decision making on the issue and to dedicate more resources to the problem regionally and domestically,” the report said.