Indonesia holds off on taking aid from S’pore & M’sia, confident in managing wildfires & haze

Indonesian minister says they don’t need foreign aid for wildfires yet, denies that government is doing nothing

Indonesia also did not declare the situation a national disaster as it remained “confident” in handling the situation.

Indonesia minister says country still capable of handling wildfires

On 10 Oct, Singapore’s Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu stated that Singapore had given an open offer of assistance to Indonesia.

Ms Fu provided an update on 14 Oct, noting that Indonesia had not gotten back about the offer yet.

Then, on 19 Oct, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Dudung Abdurachman stated that the country would not declare the situation a national disaster.

“Regarding the declaration of a national disaster, for now, we are still capable. Our country is still able,” Mr Dudung claimed.

Indonesia to only accept foreign aid when national disaster declared over wildfires

The minister said foreign aid would be available for use only after they declare a national disaster.

He specifically acknowledged Malaysia’s offer, which included a Bombardier CL-415MP firefighting aircraft, three helicopters and 50 personnel.

As of 19 Oct, the shipment is awaiting official approval from the Indonesian side, according to a Malaysian report.

For Mr Dudung, however, he mentioned that technical constraints on the ground have to be considered when it comes to foreign aid.

He said that Indonesia cannot rely solely on foreign assistance to solve the wildfire issue.

Indonesian minister stressed that they are responding to situation

“Don’t be fooled by claims that the government is not addressing the forest fires,” Mr Dudung also told the Indonesian public.

He claimed that managing the situation is difficult and that the government is not indifferent to the problems.

Also read: S’pore won’t ‘shiver in our shoes’ before taking action on haze, will pursue matter ‘for as long as it takes’: Shanmugam

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Featured image adapted from KOMPAS.com and Salim Van Java on Wikimedia Commons.