KUALA LUMPUR: Only a shift in attitude by the forces of nature can put an end to the environmental catastrophe brought by haze in the region.
This is how Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar put the situation into perspective today, as without natural intervention, Malaysians could be faced with hazy conditions until March.
"Our hopes that Indonesia would be able to put out peat fires in Sumatera and Kalimantan earlier this month didn't materialise because of dry weather and wind conditions," said Wan Junaidi.
"We hoped in September that winds from the South China Sea would sweep the haze in Sarawak and the Peninsula to the South.
" But a combination of the Dujuan and Mujigae typhoons in the Philippines, low pressure of winds from the South China Sea, dry conditions brought about by the El Nino effect in Indonesia had worsened the haze."
Riding on the momentum of the typhoons which hit the Philippines coming from the South, winds blew the haze from peat fires in Kalimantan towards the Peninsula.
Wan Junaidi said Malaysia will continue to provide assistance to Indonesia via the National Security Council and although a Bombardier aircraft that has been used effectively for water bombing operations had to be called back yesterday for servicing, it would be despatched back to Sumatra once maintenance is done.
He added that information provided by Indonesian authorities also indicate that the cause of massive forest fires was due to open burning which unforcedly got out of hand and spread to forests due to dry conditions.
"From what we have learned just three percent of the burning was done by multinational companies, while the rest were small holders. It just got out of hand when they failed to control the fires which then spread into the forests," said Wan Junaidi.
"What we can hope for now is for rain to come and put out the fires in Indonesia. On our part here, cloud seeding operations will continue daily in area with an API reading of above 150," he said.