REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PEKANBARU -- Riau provincial police had named 85 suspects in alleged land fires cases in several locations of the province, according to Riau police chief Brig Gen Condro Kirono here on Saturday.
"It was the last report we received," Condro Kirono pointed out, adding that police will not provide leniency against the perpetrators of fire setters.
Many people have suffered from upper tract respiratory infection, asthma, and other health problems and diseases due to haze.
Meanwhile, on Saturday (March 15), President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with fire fighters in Riau in a bid to boost morale as they continue fighting forest and land fires that have caused haze to spread throughout the region.
During the meeting, the president also ordered increased fire fighting operations and urged fire fighters to extinguish the blazes in three weeks.
"The intensity of the operations must be increased and I hope they could be finished in three weeks," he said.
He admitted that the fires and the haze problem caused by them had been very serious, but he called on fire fighters not to lose hope.
"Let us save our people from this disaster," he stated.
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