“My Indonesian counterpart has promised they will take the necessary measures to stop open burning in their country,” he told reporters after attending a regional meeting on trans-boundary haze pollution here.
Other countries that attended the meeting were Singapore, Brunei and Thailand.
Wan Junaidi said Indonesia showed commitment in tackling the country’s open burning problem last year by deploying the police, army and local authorities to enforce the anti-pollution law.
“Because of their hard work, we only experienced about two days of hazy weather in the country last year,” he said.
He believed Asean would achieve a haze-free status by 2020 if there was long-term commitment to end open burning.
Widespread forest burning by Indonesian farmers and plantations for the purposes of replanting, for most of the past two decades, resulted in the yearly occurrence of haze that enveloped much of Southeast Asia, disrupting aviation and shipping, as well as endangering the health of the people.
In Malaysia, the haze pollution index hit record levels of above 500 and even soared above the 1,000 mark in parts of lower Sarawak bordering Indonesian Kalimantan.
Asked about the current hot and dry spell experienced in parts of Malaysia, Wan Junaidi said it would not be as severe as what the country experienced from January to March last year.
“The meteorological department has briefed me on the expected weather conditions up to April next year.
“Dry weather is forecasted in August and September, and then the rainy season will begin in October,” he said in commenting on a report that the meteorological department forecasted less rain and more dry weather until September.