Indonesia approves foreign help to battle fires fuelling regional haze

Indonesia has green-lighted foreign assistance to combat forest and peatland fires that have spread across Southeast Asia, as authorities intensify their efforts to control the blazes and lower the number of hotspots. President Prabowo Subianto has authorized the support, with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) working on operational and technical procedures to receive it, according to Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir.

Malaysia has offered an aircraft, three helicopters, and 52 firefighters, while Indonesia has already mobilized 60,177 personnel, comprising firefighters, military, and police officers, forestry experts, and local volunteers. Aerial water-bombing and cloud-seeding operations are being carried out in high-risk areas. Nasir stated that President Prabowo is closely monitoring the situation, as the fires have impacted multiple regions in Indonesia and the broader Southeast Asian region.

Prabowo has previously characterized the haze as an environmental crisis demanding regional collaboration. Indonesia has shared operational data on containment efforts, ground conditions, and recent developments, in line with ASEAN's reporting framework for transboundary haze pollution. While large-scale firefighting operations have helped decrease daily hotspot numbers in affected regions, weather conditions continue to impede the efforts.

Malaysia and Singapore have previously urged more assertive action on the ground, as deteriorating air quality disrupted public activities in border areas. Singapore's Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, Grace Fu, affirmed her country's readiness to join regional cooperation to mitigate the impact of forest and land fires across ASEAN.