W

ith the assistance of Singapore and Malaysia, Indonesia has begun a huge mitigation operation to extinguish forest and peatland fires that have sent thick haze over neighboring countries in the region.

With the help of the two countries, along with three others, President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said on Friday that Indonesian disaster mitigation personnel were hard at work putting out the fires.

'€œI saw military and police personnel, as well as those from the BNPB [National Disaster Mitigation Agency] have indeed been working [hard],'€ Jokowi said while visiting an area where forest fires occurred in Kampar regency, Riau.

Jokowi also expressed his hope that the joint efforts could eliminate the haze sooner than expected.

Earlier, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and BNPB head Willem Rampangilei briefed the President, saying it would take at least two weeks to tackle the haze problem.

Both Luhut and Willem were in South Sumatra on Friday to receive aircraft from Singapore and Malaysia, aimed at helping to put out fires especially in South Sumatra where the majority of hot spots are located. The foreign assistance will mostly be concentrated on South Sumatra.

'€œTheir target is around two weeks. Because we hope that by having larger-capacity airplanes for water bombing, we can handle the situation soon,'€ Jokowi said.

Earlier on Thursday, Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi made contact with three of her counterparts '€” from Russia, China and Australia '€” receiving confirmation that the countries were prepared to help Indonesia, especially on a plan to dispatch aircraft able to carry 10,000 liters of water to put out fires.

According to the BNPB, Singapore is set to deploy a Chinook helicopter equipped with a bucket able to carry 5,000 liters of water for aerial firefighting to Palembang on Friday afternoon, and a Hercules C-130 aircraft for cloud-seeding, as well as a Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) firefighting assistance team and other equipment.

Malaysia, meanwhile, dispatched a Bombardier CL-415 for water-bombing operations, a Hercules C-130 aircraft, a small helicopter for surveys, a number of crew members and other equipment.

'€œThe request for flight clearance has been sent by Malaysia to [Indonesia'€™s] Foreign Ministry,'€ BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said on Friday, adding that Indonesia had been working with five water-bombing helicopters, two Air Tractor aircraft and one Casa 212 aircraft.

The government previously declined repeated offers of assistance from Singapore on the basis that Indonesia had enough manpower to put out the fires, but eventually gave in following pressure from leaders in the region.

Earlier this week, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on Indonesia to take action against people setting the fires that have caused heavy smoke across the region.

Schools in Malaysia and Singapore closed when the smoke was at its worst, with conditions also forcing the cancelation of a number of sports events.

Health authorities across the region have warned people to avoid outdoor exercise on bad pollution days.

Indonesia has routinely brushed off complaints, while at the same time vowing year after year to stop the fires.

In a number of cities in Sumatra, the thick smoke has taken its toll on the local population.

Kampar Regent Jefry Noer said the haze had caused an increasing number of acute respiratory infections in the regency.

'€œAround 20 people come to the clinic every day, which offers free treatment 24 hours,'€ said Jefry.

As a long-term solution to the haze problem, Jokowi has said that local administrations have started to build canal blocks for rewetting peat in several areas in Sumatra and Kalimantan, but said that '€œit would take time'€.

Jokowi has also considered a plan to procure three aircraft that could carry more water '€” around four times more than the existing planes '€” and at the same time transport aid to disaster-affected areas.

'€œAt least three units [of aircraft] with big capacity that are able to drop more than 12 tons [12,000 liters of water],'€ Jokowi said.