Kuala Lumpur will not protect any Malaysian companies found to be involved in open-burning activities in Indonesia.

"If there are any Malaysian companies involved, the owner should be brought to face the Indonesian law since the country has a law prohibiting open burning.

“I leave it to the Indonesian Government to act on them. Go ahead and prosecute the companies," said Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Datuk Peter Chin Fah Kui.

At present, there are 34 Malaysian companies in Kalimantan and Sumatera.

If Jakarta has evidence of open burning committed by any Malaysian companies, they are more than welcome to act against the perpetrators, said Chin.

He said he had instructed the officers in the Malaysia-Indonesia joint committee on plantation and commodities signed in July to furnish him with details on companies carrying out open burning either in Sumatera or Kalimantan recently.

"Until today, I have not received any written report from them. However, verbally, I was told (by the officers) that none of the companies with plantations in the two regions carried out any open burning."

Chin said he and his Indonesian counterpart, Dr Anton Apriyantono, intended to enforce the regulations agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries in July.

He said that during a meeting with the Malaysian companies’ representatives last year, they had denied involvement in open burning.

"They informed me that they practised zero-burning, just like what we are doing here in Malaysia," he added.