President Prabowo: Zero Tolerance for Corporations Responsible for Forest, Land Fires

President Prabowo Subianto Wednesday (09/16) ordered that firm action must be taken against corporations proven to be responsible for forest and land fires, following a report from the National Police Chief regarding the fires deliberately ignited and the alleged involvement of dozens of corporations.

The President ordered the revocation of permits and a thorough investigation into parties proven to have committed violations.

“We will take firm action against those identified by the National Police Chief and verified to have committed violations, particularly those that have been sanctioned in previous years. If they continue to violate the rules, then there is no other option but to revoke all of their permits,” he said when leading a limited meeting on disaster management measures in some regions.

According to the President, permits must be revoked immediately if the verification processes confirm the parties are responsible for forest and land fires because the Government grants zero tolerance against those acts.

On that occasion, President Prabowo also gave specific instructions to the National Police Chief to deploy all relevant personnel to thoroughly investigate the alleged violations to ensure that those responsible for the fires face appropriate sanctions.

The Head of the State also ordered all ranks within the Government to maintain their stamina in handling forest and land fires. Based on a report received by the President, the risks posed by forest and land fires are expected to remain high over the next one and a half months, requiring the Government to maintain and strengthen its preparedness.

“We must remain strong and resilient. We were informed that the situation will remain quite vulnerable over the next one and a half months. However, we will now work on comprehensive solutions,” he added.

He went on to say that the current handling of forest and land fires must serve as a lesson for the country to build a stronger mitigation system since massive preparations are essential to ensure that future efforts to prevent and respond to forest and land fires can be undertaken more rapidly, in a better coordinated manner, and effectively.

“I need to reminded all of us that we have to make massive preparations and ensure that our future management measures will be better than what we are experiencing now. I need to emphasize that we must be able to control forest fires,” he firmly said. (BPMI of the Presidential Secretariat) (RAS/TM)