Ex-Indonesian minister slams Syed Saddiq over ‘Asean outcast’ remark on haze

Former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi has hit back at Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman over the Muar MP’s call to treat Indonesia as an “outcast” in Asean over the recurring transboundary haze.

Lutfi said the haze was not an opportunity for political grandstanding, and that Indonesian firefighters had died battling the blazes while hundreds of thousands of Indonesians were breathing in the smoke.

He argued that Malaysian companies operating plantations in Indonesia must also be held responsible for the crisis, claiming Malaysian plantation groups controlled up to 3.4 million hectares of land in the country while some financed their operations through Malaysian banks.

“Hold every rogue corporation accountable, whether Indonesian or Malaysian. But never insult an entire nation that gave your industries the land and licences to thrive,” he said on Instagram.

Lutfi said while the US previously banned imports from Malaysian palm oil producers FGV Holdings and Sime Darby Plantation over allegedly forced labour, Indonesia had refrained from condemning Malaysia as a nation.

“Did Indonesia call the entire nation of Malaysia an outcast because of that? Never.”

He also said the Greenpeace report Syed Saddiq cited during his debate identified 19 fire hotspots in Indonesian concessions linked to Malaysian groups.

“If you want accountability, investigate the companies and their supply chains,” he said.

“If you don’t understand how this business works, don’t make my whole country a target.”

Lutfi served as Indonesia’s trade minister from Feb 14 to Oct 20, 2014 under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and again from Dec 23, 2020 to June 15, 2022, under president Joko Widodo.

His remarks followed Syed Saddiq’s call in the Dewan Rakyat last week for Malaysia to rally Asean countries to exert diplomatic and financial pressure on Indonesia over the recurring haze.

Speaking during the 2027 budget debate, Syed Saddiq urged Malaysia to rally Asean against the haze, cut off financing to companies linked to open burning and mobilise consumers to pressure businesses implicated in the fires.

“You need to treat them as an outcast in the region,” said Syed Saddiq.

In a separate Instagram post, Lutfi also called for Singapore to scrutinise the involvement of locally based executives and corporate groups in Indonesian companies linked to land fires that contribute to the haze.

On Monday, Singapore’s National Environment Agency said it would issue notices to three additional Indonesian companies over fires in Kalimantan suspected of contributing to the haze in Singapore, bringing the total number of firms targeted under Singapore’s Transboundary Haze Pollution Act to 10.

Smoke from wildfires in Indonesia has blanketed parts of Malaysia and Singapore in recent weeks, with El Nino-related dry weather worsening the blazes.

Last week, government spokesman Fahmi Fadzil said most of the fires observed in Indonesia occurred outside oil palm concessions owned by Malaysian companies, according to checks with the firms.

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