Indonesia is not hiding
In response to your editorial entitled "Indonesia must stop hiding behind the Somoke" (July 2), the Indonesian Embassy deems it necessary to state that it is not in the interest of anybody, definitely the government and the people of Indonesia "to hide be
What is more important is that Indonesia is consistently performing its duty and responsibility in overcoming the forest fires in Indonesia. For the last few years we witnessed no major forest fires. We are not denying the fact that illegal slash-and-burn practices were the cause of the haze in addition to the extremely hot temperatures, causing the peat land to easily burn, even 4-5 metres below the surface, both in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Indonesia works hard to overcome these challenges.
To make it clear, the Indonesian authorities from central to provincial and district levels are doing all they can to overcome the forest-fire problems. We have deployed thousands of personnel, equipment and resources to combat the fires. We have deployed more than 20 flights for rain seeding along with more than 100 flights for “water bombing” and a massive joint operation by the military, police, fire-fighters and local people on the ground. We have made significant progress. The haze has started to subside. The pollution standard index (PSI) in certain areas of Sumatra is now within the normal level (below 100). However, we still continue our work as the magnitude of the haze problem is huge. Accordingly, the National Disaster Management Agency instructed all stakeholders to continuously monitor and put out existing fires.
Furthermore, the Indonesian authorities continue to carry out a series of investigations to bring the perpetrators to justice. Indonesia is very strongly determined to address this issue, even without any pressure from anyone.
Ghofar Ismial
First Secretary, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia
