House Speaker Proposes Luhut As Coordinator To Tackle Forest Fires

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- House Speaker Setya Novanto has proposed to assign Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Panjaitan the role of a coordinator in the efforts to fight forest and plantation fires.

        "I have conveyed this proposal to the president to name a coordinator to tackle the haze problem. The right person is indeed Mr Luhut. But, we leave the decision on the president," Novanto noted here, Tuesday.

        He said the government should be serious in dealing with forest fires that have affected several people, inflicted material losses, and claimed lives.

        Spraying water alone would not solve the problem, he emphasized, adding that heavy rains would be immensely beneficial.

        "Indeed there are some ideas, for instance, from Mr Prabowo (chairman of Gerindra Party) who suggested that the haze problem should be declared a national disaster," he affirmed.

        In the meantime, the problems posed by land fires in Indonesia and the resultant haze that has also affected the neighboring countries are expected to end soon as teams from foreign countries commenced fire extinguishing operations on Monday.

         The fires and haze have affected public health and disturbed daily activities in Indonesia and the neighboring countries.

           Teams from Singapore and Malaysia joined the local forest and land fire prevention task force to commence fire extinguishing operations on Monday, focusing on the hotspots in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) district in South Sumatra.

          "Today, teams from Singapore and Malaysia along with South Sumatra's Forest and Land Fires Prevention Task Force have begun aerial and land operations to extinguish the fires in OKI and Musi Banyuasin District," South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin stated on Monday (Oct. 12). (WDY)