The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, and the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo. (Image via Bisnis Tempo.co)

Jokowi refuses help from Malaysia, Mahathir: Why?

Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohamad, would like to talk to President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, generally known as “Jokowi”, asking for the reason why Indonesia refused help from Malaysia to tackle the forest and land fires in Kalimantan and Riau.

In recent years, Indonesia had been monitored by leaders throughout the ASEAN region due to the increasing number of hotspots that caused haze in several regions. Thailand’s most well-known tourist destination, Phuket, also cry for help due to the lurking haze. Schools in Malaysia was forced to close temporarily due to the haze.

Quoted from Malay Mail on Wednesday (25/9), the Malaysian PM address his curiosity. He stated that Malaysia had offered help repetitively to the Indonesian government. Furthermore, Mohamad said that Malaysia possesses aircraft specifically designed to extinguish forest and land fires.

Instead of receiving its help, Indonesia and Malaysia are blaming each other for the haze. The Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurbaya Bakar, said that Malaysia was partly to blame for the haze. Bakar blamed Malaysian companies for the haze covering Sarawak.

On the other hand, Bakar’s counterpart, Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change of Malaysia, Yeo Bee Yin, rebuked Bakar’s statement by saying that she should have looked at the data that Indonesia’s hotspots were far worse than Malaysia’s.

Recently, Indonesia stated that at least four Malaysian companies caused fires. The Malaysian PM responded that Malaysia should regulate a law that will punish its domestic companies that cause fires in other countries.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20190926120926-106-434235/mahathir-bingung-jokowi-tolak-bantuan-malaysia-untuk-karhutla