Indonesian president calls for stepping up effort to extinguish forest fire

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday ordered authorities to intensify the effort to stop forest fire in Sumatra and Borneo islands which have disturbed flight and health, senior official said here.

Head of National Disaster Management and Mitigation Agency Syamsul Maarif told reporters after a cabinet meeting that the president asked for increase of the number of monitoring posts as base for extinguishing the fire.

"His (the president) order is to strengthen the effort by opening 8 monitoring posts," Maarif said.

Maarif said that President Jokowi, popular name of the president, plans to visit the scene of the fire in Riau province in Sumatra island in this week.

"The president will visit Riau province. He is concerned with this forest fire problem," he said.

According to Maarif, the number of hot spot had reduced in the provinces of Riau and Jambi in Sumatra island on Friday, but risen in South Sumatra province.

Police and military would assist the enforcement of law against those intentionally burned forests, said Maarif.

Most of violation in the past occurred during the land clearing for the opening of new plantation.

The haze from the fire has disturbed flight in the main airport in Riau province and another small airport in Aceh province, according to Indonesian transport ministry.

However, it has not yet affected neighboring ASEAN countries.

Haze from forest fire in Sumatra and Borneo islands have often impacted the neighboring countries, causing a huge economic loss.