East Kalimantan governor seen at MBS hotel, draws flak from Indonesians amid haze & forest fire crisis

The governor of East Kalimantan province in Indonesia was recently spotted at Marina Bay Sands having breakfast.

The scene of Rudy Mas'ud at the hotel sparked criticism and anger after going viral on Threads.

The photo, which has since amassed over 11,000 likes and 1,500 shares, was posted on Oct. 12.

It was not revealed when exactly the photo was taken.

Indonesian netizens lambasted the pair for going on "vacation" and "having a good time", while forest fires continue burning in Kalimantan.

Health check

However, East Kalimantan's communications and information agency clarified on Oct. 13 that Rudy had been in Singapore days earlier for a health check.

According to Indonesian media outlet Kompas, he had received permission from the minister of home affairs, and the trip was for "health reasons".

Rudy underwent a routine health check at Mount Elizabeth Hospital and left Singapore on Oct. 11, reported another Indonesian media outlet, Benua Kaltim.

He resumed his governmental duties and was in Jakarta the day after.

Fires

Fires in Kalimantan have been burning for the past three months.

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mothership (@mothershipsg)

Indonesia's environment minister said on Oct. 13 that it aims to extinguish all forest and land fires in a month.

Regarding offers of assistance from other countries, the minister said that the government would assess potential aid based on its type and effectiveness in accelerating firefighting operations, Antara wrote.

Small deployments may have a limited impact, since Indonesia has already deployed large numbers of responders.

Thus far, over 60,000 personnel have been deployed to support ground operations.

Related stories