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Jokowi to stay in haze-affected regions
Motorists ride on a road as thick haze from forest fires shroud the city in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Tuesday
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Motorists ride on a road as thick haze from forest fires shroud the city in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Tuesday. (AP) (AP)
Motorists ride on a road as thick haze from forest fires shroud the city in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, Tuesday. (AP)
President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is set to personally lead the haze countermeasure efforts and stay at the affected regions such as Jambi and Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan following his return to Indonesia after a brief visit to the US.
'[The President] will stay for several days in the [affected regions] to directly conduct [haze countermeasure efforts]. He will probably returned to Indonesia on Friday and [fly] straight to the sites," said Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan in Jakarta on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.
According to Luhut, Jokowi's decision to stay in the affected regions was part of his commitment to tackle the disaster.
Previously, Jokowi called Luhut on Monday morning and received reports that the number of hot spots in South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan reached 146 and 366, respectively.
"Since there are many complaints from the people regarding health and social impacts due to haze, I've decided to cancel my trip to the West Coast," said Jokowi.
Separately, House of Representatives (DPR) deputy speaker Agus Hermanto praised Jokowi's decision to cut short his US state visit.
Agus also called on the government to immediately take strict action toward the culprits of forest and land fires.
"We have to involve law enforcement and continue [to process the culprits] until they are sent to prison. As for the companies, [we] should revoked their production forest concessions [HPH]. These [actions] should be done immediately," said Agus. (mas/kes)(+)
