"I am convinced we can overcome it, but I cannot reply if questioned on how long it will take," the new chief of BNPB, Willem Rampangilei said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia can be freed from the haze disaster if it implements several preventive measures and involves the people, according to Willem Rampangilei, the new chief of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).

"I am convinced we can overcome it, but I cannot reply if questioned on how long it will take. This is because there are several factors that lead to forest and land fires. Humans who set ablaze forest and peatland areas are one of the causes of the fires," Rampangilei remarked.

He made the statement after being installed by President Joko Widodo as the agencys head on Monday. He succeeds Syamsul Maarif as the new head of BNPB.

Rampangilei affirmed that anticipatory steps should be taken before forest fires occurred by spreading awareness among the people on the dangers of forest and land fires.

He said that the haze resulting from forest fires posed a serious threat not only to the economy but also to the health of the people, particularly to expecting mothers and children under five years of age.

"Besides this, the delays in flights at several airports caused losses that have to be borne by the airline operators," the new BNPB chief pointed out.

Regarding the commitment to handling the haze disaster, he noted that the president had issued an instruction for handling the haze problem.

However, he declined to divulge further details on the steps he plans to take to free Indonesians from haze since he was still waiting for an official hand over of the post from the former chief, which will be held on Thursday.

The Democrat Party has urged the government to take swift steps to mitigate the haze disaster in several provinces in Indonesia.

"We urge the government to conduct coordination, adopt a proper action plan, and cooperate with regional governments to overcome the haze problem as soon as possible," Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Partys Central Executive Board, Sjarifuddin Hasan, stated at a press conference here on Sunday.

The haze resulting from land and forest fires in the provinces of South Sumatra, Riau, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, and South Kalimantan have had a negative impact on the peoples economy, the environment, the education sector, and the publics health, he noted.

Chief of the Democrat Party faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono meanwhile lauded President Widodos plan to visit the South Sumatra provincial capital of Palembang to monitor the haze disaster mitigation efforts.

"By going to the field, the government has shown its positive intent," he affirmed.

However, the governments actions to deal with the haze were a bit late. He urged President Widodo to take anticipatory steps to prevent the haze disaster from recurring in the future, he added.

President Widodo arrived at Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Sunday to check the preparations to mitigate the haze disaster in the province.

Shortly after arriving at the airport, the president and his entourage headed straight to the meeting room at the airport to hold a closed-door meeting to coordinate forest and land fire mitigation efforts in the province.

The president informed reporters that the closed-door meeting was held to only discuss the efforts to mitigate hotspots to prevent them from spreading.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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