Gov’t Committed to Containing Forest, Land Fires Across the Country

The Government is committed to managing forest and land fires across Indonesia, with fires in several areas on the island of Sumatra now contained.

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi made the statement in Palembang city on Monday (08/24), following President Prabowo Subianto’s working visit to the provinces of Riau and South Sumatra to directly oversee the development on the ground.

“After Saturday (08/22), the President visited West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan afterward to monitor the forest and land fire management. Today, he continued to monitor it on Sumatra island. This morning, he visited Riau, Pekanbaru, then headed over to Palembang, South Sumatra,” he said.

During the working visit, President Prabowo led two coordination meetings on forest and land fire management. The Regional Leaders’ Coordination Forum (Forkopimda) of Jambi Province and Lampung Province joined the final meeting online to report on the latest situation, offering an overview of the conditions across four provinces on Sumatra.

Although the situation is generally under control and active fires have been put out, the Minister stated that haze has remained in several areas.

“Some reported that there is no remaining fire site, but haze remains due to the peatland and coal in the areas, especially on Sumatra,” he said.

According to the Minister, President Prabowo has ordered his administration to manage forest and land fires in active sites and instructed the central government to provide reinforcements if necessary, even though the current number of active fires is lower.

The Minister added that the President expressed appreciation to the Forkopimda of Riau and South Sumatra provinces for the preventive and anticipatory measures they have taken, which involve local communities, businesspeople, and plantation owners to prevent fires.

“Including disseminating information. There was a great quote in the beginning—to work together, to join hands with all communities, businesspeople, and plantation owners to anticipate [fires] since the beginning of the year,” he said.

Early preventive measures are imperative, as this year’s El Niño is forecast to be one of the strongest in history. The Minister pointed out that regional governments and all relevant institutions have taken multiple anticipatory actions since the start of the year to minimize activities that may cause forest or land fires.

Closing his statement, the Minister expressed hope that Indonesia’s forest and land fire management efforts will succeed, allowing affected communities to resume their normal activities.

“Hopefully, we can soon put out all forest and land fires across all Indonesian regions, including on the islands of Kalimantan and Sumatra, so the people can resume their activities normally,” he remarked. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (DH/MMB)