Indonesian Environment Minister Balthazar Kambuaya said on Wednesday that delegations attending the "15th Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee (MSC) on Transboundary Haze Pollution" in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia would discuss punishment for companies involved in the recent Indonesian forest fires that causes severe air pollution in several countries in the region.

"The legal enforcement will be discussed in the upcoming coordination meeting that would be conducted through multi-doors mechanism," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of the ministry's coordination meeting held in his office this afternoon.

The Indonesian minister and his counterparts from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Brunei will discuss further coordination to address transboundary haze problem on Thursday.

He added that delegations attending the meeting also agreed to take legal actions against those violating the existing regulations.

Violation of the regulation has led to forest fire in Indonesia 's Riau province, causing smoke haze in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

The meeting in Kuala Lumpur held on Tuesday and Wednesday also agreed on applying Indonesia's legal codes to charge companies involved in the forest fire, he said.

The ministry has previously identified eight plantation firms that include domestic and foreign-controlled companies which are believed to be involved in Riau's forest fire.

Minister Kambuaya also said participants at last week's meeting in Kuala Lumpur expressed appreciation to Indonesia for putting down the recent forest fire in Riau province within days.

Indonesia has solely extinguished the forest fire in several regencies in Riau province that broke out early this month, and the haze from the fire severely polluted part of Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia.

In coordination with police, Indonesian military and research and technology agency and disaster mitigation agency engaged planes and helicopters to undertake operation to extinguish the fire with artificial rain and water bombardment in areas gutted by fire.

Minister Kambuaya said that Indonesia is ready to deal with similar cases as forest fire emergency period in the province will last until October at the latest this year. Endi

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