INDONESIA today named four Malaysian companies for allegedly starting some of fires that have been the source of the transboundary smoke choking cities in Malaysia, Reuters reports.

Indonesia’s Environment Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said the four companies are West Kalimantan-based Sime Indo Agro, a unit of Sime Darby Plantation; Sukses Karya Sawit, a unit of IOI Corporation; Rafi Kamajaya Abadi, a unit of TDM Bhd; and Riau-based Adei Plantation and Industry, a unit of Kuala Lumpur Kepong Group. 

She said the plantations of the four companies, among the 30 that have been identified for burning their land, have been sealed off. 

Siti Nurbaya said Malaysia was not being objective on the cause of the fires ripping through Sumatra and Borneo islands, adding that smoke from fires in Indonesia may have crossed to Malaysia, but fires were also detected last week in Sarawak and the peninsula.

“I only ask that they (Malaysians) be objective and sequential in their data analysis,” she told the news agency. – September 13, 2019.