Susilo (left) extended the apology to Singapore and Malaysia in a press conference yesterday evening after a cabinet meeting, and asked for both countries’ understanding regarding the problem.
“I apologise to our brothers in Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesia did not intend for this to happen and we take the responsibility to overcome this,” a government website quoted Susilo as saying.
He added that there were human and natural factors at play, such as the wind direction that resulted in the haze blanketing Singapore and Malaysia.
The president criticised the Riau provincial administration for being too late to counter the forest fires and warned some other provinces to take early precautions.
“But there is no need for a blame game. The central and regional governments are putting in place all measures to immediately overcome the haze and fires,” he said.
Efforts to douse the fires have been led by the local administration but yesterday Susilo sent the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency to the fields and to take a leading role in efforts to extinguish the fires.
- dpa
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