Malaysia secures Asean consensus on Israel during chairmanship

SEPANG, Oct 13 — Malaysia will bring up the issue of transboundary haze at an Asean foreign ministers’ gathering prior to the bloc’s 49th Summit in Manila, the Philippines, later this month, to explore more efficient regional strategies to combat the issue, says Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan. The haze predicament demands special focus as it does not fall under the purview of existing Asean mechanisms for natural disasters.

“While we possess an Asean mechanism for natural disasters, haze is not categorized as one,” explained Hasan, addressing reporters after witnessing the departure of Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the Bunga Raya Complex. He further informed that during his conversation with Indonesian counterpart Arrmanatha Nasir, the latter mentioned that reduced visibility in affected zones was impeding aerial firefighting activities.

“Indonesia possesses between three and four aircrafts and 34 helicopters, yet they are unable to launch due to unsafe flight conditions caused by poor visibility. “Yet, they have committed 60,000 personnel to ground operations,” stated Hasan, adding that Indonesia encountered difficulties owing to the fires’ inland location, limited water supplies, and continued smoldering in peatland areas.

He further disclosed that cloud-seeding procedures could not be executed in Indonesia currently because the necessary cumulonimbus clouds were absent. Hasan expressed Malaysia’s acknowledgment of Indonesia’s efforts to curb the fires but hoped its neighbor would adopt more effective steps as the existing scenario adversely impacted the populace.