Indonesia seals off M’sian owned plantation in Riau over haze issue
The Indonesian authorities have sealed a plot of land in Riau, belonging to subsidiary of a Malaysian company, for allegedly being involved in forest fires that has caused haze across the region.
According to CNN Indonesia, the Indonesian Environment and Forestry Ministry cracked the whip against PT Adei Plantation Industry on suspicion of deliberately causing the forest fires.
Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar was quoted as saying that a large portion of PT Adei Plantation Industry’s shares was owned by a Malaysian plantation company.
“We have checked the company from Malaysia that started the fire. The was sealed on Sept 11,” she told CNN Indonesia.
Siti has also ordered hr ministry’s officials to check the registration of all Malaysian and Singaporean companies, whose land areas are on fire.
Explaining her previous remark that the haze in Malaysia originated from Sarawak instead of Indonesia, the minister said she merely issued the statement based on a satellite data taken between Sept 3 and 8.
“That was the data I was explaining about. I am asking everyone to be objective. If we talk about today’s data, surely the situation is different.
“We must be sequential in analysing data,” said Siti.
Siti made the claim despite the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre’s (ASMC) tracking showing that the haze in Peninsular Malaysia primarily originated from Sumatra.
The haze in Sarawak originates from Kalimantan.
The remarks drew criticism from Malaysia, with Malaysian Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin telling Siti not to be in denial.
Yeo cited the latest data on the total number of hotspots recorded by ASMC, which showed 474 located in Kalimantan and 387 in Sumatra, as opposed to Malaysia with just seven.
Sarawak deputy chief minister II Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had also expressed shock over Siti’s claim and urged the latter to look at the right map.
Yesterday, Yeo said Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad would write to Indonesian President Joko Widodo soon in regards to the transboundary haze issue.
