Indonesia sends thousands of troops to fight fires as haze cloaks south-east Asia

Indonesia on Tuesday deployed an extra 1,600 military personnel to fight forest and agricultural fires producing thick haze, as the smog closed schools in Malaysia and worsened air quality in Singapore. President Joko Widodo ordered the military ramp-up on Sumatra after authorities declared a state of emergency in the island’s hard-hit Riau province Monday. One thousand military personnel were dispatched to Riau while 600 were sent to South Sumatra province to help local authorities fight fires, Indonesia’s disaster agency said. They join over 1,000 soldiers sent to Sumatra last week.

Take firm legal action against parties responsible for the forest fires.

President Joko Widodo’s orders.

Smog-belching blazes, an annual problem in Southeast Asia, have intensified in Sumatra and the Indonesian part of Borneo island in the past two weeks, sending a cloud of acrid smog across the region. The illegal fires are set to clear vast tracts of land to make way for palm oil and pulp and paper plantations, and Indonesia has failed to halt the practice despite years of pressure from its neighbours. Around 100 people and 15 companies are being investigated over the blazes. Tens of thousands in smoke-choked regions of Sumatra and Borneo have fallen ill, while air travel there – as well as in parts of Malaysia – has been hit by sporadic flight delays or cancellations due to poor visibility.

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