Indonesia accused Singapore of “behaving like a child'' by complaining about severe haze from raging forest fires on Sumatra island that has cloaked the island.
“Singapore should not be behaving like a child and making all this noise,'' Agung Laksono, the minister who is coordinating Indonesia's response to the haze crisis, told reporters in Jakarta. “This is not what the Indonesian nation wants, it is because of nature.''
(Pictured, aerial view image by Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme on April 8, 2013. Smoke envelopes a peatland forest hit by fire in western Aceh province's Tripa area in Indonesia's Sumatra island as peatland forests are converted for palm oil plantation.)
The minister for people's welfare also said Jakarta would reject any offer of financial aid from Singapore unless it was a large amount, AFP reports.
“Unless [Singapore] wants to give us a large amount, we won't consider accepting it,'' he said. “If it is only half a million, or one million dollars, we don't need that. We would rather use our own national budget.''
The comments came as the neighbors prepared to hold emergency talks in Jakarta to ease the severe pollution in the island.
Singapore's air pollutant index was again hovering around the “hazardous'' level of 301 at midday, close to the all-time high of 321 set the night before. Any reading above 200 is considered threatening to health.
Laksono said investigations were under way to find out which company was responsible for the haze.
“There are Indonesian, Singaporean and Malaysian companies there,'' he said, echoing previous comments from officials in Jakarta seeking to shift the blame away from solely Indonesian firms.