SINGAPORE - Indonesia's Coordinating Minister Luhut Panjaitan has assured Singapore that the country is taking the haze very seriously and will be deploying more troops to deal with forest fires.

In a Facebook post on Sunday (Sept 27) evening, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said he had received a phone call from Mr Luhut earlier in the day to discuss the matter.

"I thanked him, and told him that Singapore too is taking the haze very seriously," said Mr Teo.

"We closed schools last Friday when the PSI reached hazardous levels, and I was at that very moment of his phone call, visiting my elderly and vulnerable residents to check on their well-being, and distributing masks."

He also again reminded Mr Luhut that Singapore's offer to assist Indonesia in putting out the fires still stands, he said in the post.

"It would be a sign of cooperation between our two countries, so that Indonesians and Singaporeans need not suffer the haze."