KUALA LUMPUR: Former Indonesian trade minister Muhammad Lutfi has criticised Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman for calling on Asean to treat Indonesia as an "outcast" over the haze.
In a video posted on Instagram, Lutfi said he was disturbed by the suggestion that Indonesia should face regional diplomatic pressure over forest fires.
He also accused the Muar member of parliament of overlooking the role of Malaysian companies operating in Indonesia's plantation sector.
"Indonesia is being called an outcast over the haze from our forest fires. And I'm disturbed when my entire country is ridiculed by politicians just to score cheap points in parliament," he said.
Lutfi said blaming Indonesia as a whole ignored the involvement of foreign investors, particularly Malaysian plantation companies operating in the country.
"You are attacking a nation of 280 million people when we should be talking about the companies operating on the ground," he said.
He claimed Malaysian groups controlled up to 3.4 million hectares of oil palm concessions in Indonesia, with investments spanning plantations, processing facilities and downstream operations.
Lutfi, who previously chaired Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board and served on the board of Sime Darby, now known as SD Guthrie, said Malaysian companies had invested in Indonesia for commercial reasons.
"The Malaysian companies did not come here to Indonesia out of pity. They didn't come here for charity. They came here for survival. They came here to make money," he said.
He said Indonesia had granted investment licences and tax incentives to foreign companies, arguing that it was unfair to hold the entire country responsible for environmental damage linked to plantation operations.
Lutfi also argued that Malaysian companies benefited from the palm oil supply chain, with crude palm oil produced in Indonesia processed in Malaysia before being sold to overseas markets.
He also criticised Syed Saddiq's proposal to restrict financing to companies linked to open burning, saying Malaysian banks were involved in financing Malaysian corporations investing in Indonesian plantations.
Lutfi said Indonesian authorities had arrested 223 suspects, charged nine corporations and suspended the permits of 26 companies in connection with forest fires.
"If a company, Indonesian or Malaysian, is responsible for a fire, prosecute that company, but do not insult the entire nation, and never call Indonesia an outcast," he said.
During the debate on Malaysia's 2027 Budget, Syed Saddiq called on the government to rally Asean countries to exert diplomatic pressure over the haze, restrict financing to companies implicated in open burning and mobilise consumers to boycott businesses linked to the fires.
"You need to treat them as an outcast in the region," Syed Saddiq said.
Lutfi served as Indonesia's trade minister from Feb 14 to Oct 20, 2014, under then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and from Dec 23, 2020, to June 15, 2022, under then-president Joko Widodo.
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