Widespread land and forest fires have raged in Indonesia for weeks, causing transboundary haze, a spike in respiratory conditions in the three countries and the shutting of schools in Malaysia, most recently in the southern state of Johor. Jumhur on Tuesday said the small deployments of personnel may have limited impact, given that Indonesia has already deployed tens of thousands of responders. The same applies to assistance involving water-bombing aircraft, which must be evaluated based on operational needs and effectiveness, state news agency Antara reported him as saying. Authorities has previously said ground operations have been more dominant because some areas are difficult to access by helicopter due to the extremely thick smoke. FIRES TO BE EXTINGUISHED WITHIN A MONTH: MINISTER Jumhur said Indonesia aims to extinguish all forest and land fires in less than a month, as joint teams continue firefighting operations across several affected areas. Firefighting efforts have been focused on the Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra provinces, said the authorities.  “Based on discussions with the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), it should …

Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi previously said his country had offered a firefighting aircraft, three helicopters and 52 officers and personnel to assist with firefighting operations in Indonesia. Malaysia Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan on Oct 12 said the country will raise the issue of transboundary haze when foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations meet next month in Manila, to discuss more effective regional mechanisms to tackle the problem, Bernama news agency reported. Meanwhile, Singapore Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu said last week that she had been in touch with her Indonesian counterpart Jumhur Hidayat, adding that Singapore is prepared to help Indonesia in fighting forest fires wherever necessary amid the ongoing haze. Prabowo on Monday also directed that firefighting in Central Kalimantan’s Tanjung Puting National Park, a stronghold for orangutans and other wildlife, be prioritised. Tanjung Puting is the world’s largest conservation and rehabilitation centre for orangutans. Conditions in four provinces – Riau, West Kalimantan, Jambi and South Kalimantan – are showing signs of improvement, Teddy said. Between …