You’d think that by now the Indonesian government would accede to some much needed assistance from Singapore in battling the haze-causing forest infernos, especially when their vice-president made two appeals for help this month.
No such luck apparently, even when Singapore Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen attended a high-level meeting with his Indonesian counterparts.
The Straits Times reports that the meeting took place in Jakarta yesterday evening, with the haze-crises forming a major topic for discussion. Even as Dr Ng affirmed again that the Singapore Armed Forces stand ready to support Indonesia’s haze mitigation efforts, it doesn’t seem to have made any difference.
Instead, the Indonesian side recounted how they’re ramping up efforts to tackle the illegal forest fires raging across Kalimantan and Sumatra, gathering academics, researchers, activists and former environment ministers to form a hivemind on how to deal with the ongoing crisis.
Ideas on regulations and policies aside, they’ve also revealed plans to hire a Russian-made amphibious tanker aircraft for fighting fires.
Still no sign if the Indonesian government will ever accept help from outside, despite their disaster management agency BNBP stating that the dry weather, limited supply of water and equipment as well as the vast expanse of raging fires have caused a significant challenge for their personnel. All in all, the inferno could rage on till November, they said.
