The Indonesian government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry has denied allegations with regards to the current haze situation being caused by forest and land fires crossing over to Malaysia.
Its Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar issued an official statement saying the complaint about haze is inaccurate. “We have been monitoring the situation, and no cross-border haze has reached Malaysia,” she said. On the satellite images of haze crossing the border, she said the ministry received reports from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency and the ASEAN Special Meteorological Center for the period from 28 to 30 September 2023, until yesterday evening at 16:00 WIB (Indonesian Time West) there is no cross-border haze from Indonesia crossing Malaysia.
Based on ASMC’s observations, she said that for several days, haze has been at moderate to thick levels in some areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan. On October 1, 2023, the haze began to thicken in Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra. However, no transboundary haze was observed.
ASMC is a regional cooperation program among the National Meteorological Services of ASEAN member countries. It operates under the Singapore Meteorological Service. Meanwhile, based on BMKG satellite observations, images of the distribution of haze in Indonesia over the three days showed that haze was detected in several areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan.
To date, the Indonesian Ministry said 203 companies have received warnings, and 20 companies have been closed due to their involvement in causing fire, including subsidiaries of Malaysian companies.
