RI Vice President Insists Early Planning on Wildfires Management

Liputan6.com, Jakarta The annually occurring land and forest fires in many parts of Indonesian region which have subjugated living things along with their habitats need to reach a full stop.

Last year’s man-made incidents in some region within Indonesia’s islands of Sumatera and Kalimantan serve as a traumatic reminder that government anticipation and efforts to prevent reliving the same environmentally disastrous nightmare, together with supports from factory owners and locals in victimized areas, have to take into serious account.

Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla expresses his desire to have his country freed from any potentiality of having wildfires wreaking havoc and causing haze that put the archipelago state’s relationship with neighboring countries at strain during his speech deliverance session for the 2016 National Forest Fires Prevention meeting held at the Presidential Palace.

“I hereby would like to remind everyone that this year we have to be more prepared in terms of our operation in managing any incident relating to wildfires that occur within our nation. We have to prevent it from becoming an international issue like last time,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated on Monday 18 January 2016.

“Forest fire had inevitably become a concern at the international level last year and if we make the same mistake we did last year, then the dire consequences would likely to be an international one as well. I hope that what has been shown by the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency regarding this year’s dry season is not as fatal as last one,” he further stated.

He therefore insists for all involving parties to assure preparation and maintain early planning method thus that the nation would not go through the same disaster. Everyone in this particular circumstance ought to be taken into account, said Jusuf Kalla. Civilians have to also participate in this venture by anticipating such event through intensified vigilance and preparations of objects and tools necessitated to put out fire.

“We have to learn from last year’s mistake. We were left in shock with the widespread of haze but we failed to anticipate and address the issue from the very beginning. So today should mark our first step forward as a prepared nation,” Vice President Jusuf Kalla continued.

Indonesian Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Interior Minister Tjahjo Kumolo, Minister of Forestry and Environment Siti Nurbaya, Indonesian Police Chief Badrodin Haiti, Head of Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) Gatot Nurmantyo are among the high-level attendees who were present during the national coordination meeting for forest fires preventive measures.