An Indonesian official’s claim that the country exports “oxygen” and not just smoke to its neighbours has renewed criticism of Jakarta’s handling of its annual forest fires, with analysts warning that defensive nationalism risks undermining regional cooperation to tackle the recurring haze crisis.

The remarks by Syahganda Nainggolan, the newly appointed head of the Government Communication Agency, reignited criticism over Indonesia’s handling of its ongoing forest and peatland fires, which have sent thick haze to Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei and parts of the Philippines.

“We ask all our neighbours to understand that this is beyond human error, this is truly [caused by] nature,” Syahganda said on Saturday as quoted by local news outlet Kompas.

“We’re not just sending smoke. If there’s no smoke, we’re sending oxygen. Singapore and Malaysia’s oxygen comes from our forests.”This year’s fires have been exacerbated by slash-and-burn practices to clear land for plantations, alongside extreme drought attributed to a super El Nino. Indonesian police had arrested 196 suspects in forest and land fires across the country as of September 29.

Syahganda’s comments, which triggered sarcasm and disbelief among social media users in Malaysia and Singapore, echoed a similarly controversial statement made by then vice-president Jusuf Kalla during the 2015 haze crisis when he claimed Indonesia sent “clean air” to Singapore and Malaysia for 11 months in a year “without being thanked”.

The government’s dismissive narrative has also drawn criticism from foreign affairs observers, who argue that Jakarta should acknowledge its shortcomings and welcome assistance to extinguish the fires.

“In my opinion, this statement reflects poorly on Indonesian diplomacy. It’s not only defensive, but also unempathetic and lacking in international etiquette,” said Shofwan Al Banna Choiruzzad, an associate professor of international relations at the University of Indonesia.

He also warned that it would affect Prabowo Subianto’s reputation and make the president a “common enemy” of Indonesia’s neighbours.

Melinda Martinus, a fellow in the Asean Studies Centre at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said these comments were “concerning because they risk framing a recurring environmental and public-health crisis as a natural phenomenon rather than a problem that also involves governance, land management and accountability”.

“The concern is that such rhetoric can undermine the diplomatic goodwill needed to manage a transboundary crisis” and make it more difficult to advocate for regional cooperation like the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Martinus added.

Dafri Agussalim, a professor of international relations at Gadjah Mada University, called Syahganda’s remarks “inappropriate” and a form of “narrow nationalism”.

Dafri urged Jakarta to “sit together” with its neighbours affected by the haze to coordinate responses and assistance, under the 2002 Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATP) framework.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim called Prabowo last week to voice his concern over the fires and offer help.

“The haze situation is indeed worrying. I have personally contacted President Prabowo and he agreed to take the necessary steps,” Anwar said on Thursday.

According to Anwar, Malaysia’s foreign and environment ministers have contacted their Indonesian counterparts to “coordinate efforts to tackle forest and land fires and the resulting haze”. Anwar also instructed his foreign minister Mohamad Hasan to engage Asean environment chiefs.

However, Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi told the New Straits Times on Sunday that “there has been no response so far” from Indonesia to Malaysia’s outreach. “We are taking a positive view [that] perhaps they do not require our assistance.”Indonesia’s foreign minister Arrmanatha Nasir said on Saturday he had explained to Hasan the country’s firefighting efforts, such as “deploying more than 60,000 personnel and 48 helicopters and aircraft for water bombing and weather modification”.

On Monday, Prabowo ordered the deployment of 70,000 forest rangers to combat forest and peatland fires in Sumatra and Kalimantan, which he said was “a top government priority”. Prabowo also called for stronger grass-roots measures to prevent similar cases from recurring.

“We must step in to combat and prevent the fire in the most massive way possible,” Prabowo said during a cabinet meeting on Monday.

As of Monday, fires had affected 129,899 hectares (320,987 acres) of peatland, of which 129,260 hectares had been extinguished, data from the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) showed.

The firefighting measures are focused on six provinces, namely Riau, South Sumatra, Jambi, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan and South Kalimantan.

BNPB head Suharyanto said on Monday that the fires in Central and South Kalimantan provinces occurred in “remote areas”, making it difficult for the task force to reach affected locations.

Aside from field operations, Shofwan also urged Indonesia to work with Singapore and Malaysia to jointly take action against plantation companies and financial firms involved in concessions where the fires occurred.

Recent findings by Greenpeace Indonesia, Greenpeace Malaysia and Pantau Gambut showed that among the 20 concessions with the most haze sources, “at least four concessions” were linked to business groups based in Singapore, while one concession was tied to a Malaysian plantation group.

Martinus said the AATP provided a regional framework for prevention, monitoring and cooperation, but not the enforcement authority to compel companies to pay compensation.

“Asean can strengthen cooperation on documenting evidence and enforcement,” she said. “This could involve more systematic sharing of hotspot data, concession maps, corporate ownership information and investigation findings, subject to applicable laws and evidentiary requirements.”