JAKARTA, Oct 11 — Indonesia and Malaysia have maintained high-level diplomatic communication over transboundary haze caused by forest and land fires, following a telephone conversation between their leaders amid concerns over worsening air pollution.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said he had spoken to his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, to explain Indonesia’s firefighting efforts.
“We have deployed more than 60,000 personnel. This is indeed a challenge because weather conditions are currently not in our favour, but we hope the situation will ease soon as rainfall is expected,” he told reporters.
Arrmanatha was responding to questions about Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s statement on Thursday that he had contacted Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto over the haze situation.
