"Several leaders of the House of Representatives have made a mockery of the haze disaster when thousands of people have been suffering from thick smoke," Plate affirmed here on Friday.
According to Plate, the House leaders have politicized the haze crisis by wearing masks.
"Currently, the government and the society have been struggling to extinguish forest fires. We were highly disappointed with the politicization of the haze problem," he affirmed.
In response to the criticism, House of Representatives deputy speaker Taufik Kurniawan clarified that wearing masks during the meeting was merely a form of an appeal.
"The House leaders had no intention to politicize the haze crisis. As a result, the House leaders removed their masks," he remarked.
Earlier, several leaders of the House of Representatives had worn masks during a plenary meeting on Friday as a show of solidarity with the victims of the haze disaster.
"Let us wear masks as a form of solidarity for the haze victims," Kurniawan stated here on Friday.
In addition, he urged all lawmakers to conduct a prayer for rains after the Friday prayer in a bid to solve the haze crisis in the country.
However, wearing masks during the meeting was criticized by several members of the House of Representatives who urged the House leaders to take them off.
Nevertheless, the House leaders comprising Setya Novanto, Kurniawan, Agus Hermanto, Fahri Hamzah, and Fadli Zon continued to wear their masks.
Meanwhile, the House leaders wore masks while singing the national anthem, Indonesia Raya.
"It is not allowed to sing the national anthem while wearing a mask. We should openly sing Indonesias national anthem," a legislator affirmed.
Some 529,527 people have suffered from upper respiratory tract infections due to the forest- and land fire-triggered haze that has plagued the country since several months, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
"The haze plaguing the country has caused upper respiratory tract infections in 529,527 people," Head of Data Information and Public Relations of the BNPB Sutopo Purwo Nugroho noted on Friday morning.
The victims were from Sumatra and Kalimantan, particularly 60,225 from Central Kalimantan; 79,888 from Riau; 129,229 from Jambi; 115,484 from South Sumatra; 46,672 from West Kalimantan; and 98,029 from South Kalimantan.
"The haze victims totaled 529,527 people," he reported.
The data is based on the report received by the BNPB on October 29, 2016, Sutopo remarked.
However, there is a possibility that the actual count could be higher, he affirmed.
This is because some people ailing from diseases did not visit the doctors at the Community Health Care Centers (Puskesma) or the hospitals.
"They perhaps consulted the doctors independently, and so, they were not registered," he pointed out.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2015
