President Prabowo Strengthens Law Enforcement to Tackle Forest, Land Fires

President Prabowo Subianto, on Saturday morning (08/22), departed for West Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces to directly oversee the handling of forest and land fires (karhutla). The President chaired a meeting on handling the fires and instructed rapid, integrated, and simultaneous actions across all affected regions in Kalimantan island.

Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya, on Saturday night (08/22), in a written statement, said that President Prabowo also held a video conference from Palangka Raya city with field operative in South Kalimantan province, the Governor, the Navy Chief of Staff (KSAL), and the Assistant Chief of the Indonesian National Police (Polri) for Operational affairs (Asops). The conference was conducted to directly assess the operational needs for handling forest and land fires in South Kalimantan province.

According to the Cabinet Secretary, President Prabowo emphasized the need to deploy more personnel, equipment, and firefighting facilities so that all fire hotspots can be handled immediately.

“An additional deployment of over 17 water-bombing helicopters will arrive by tomorrow morning at the latest, joining the 30 aircraft already operating in Kalimantan,” he stated.

Furthermore, the Cabinet Secretary mentioned that the Government would deploy additional water pumps and piping machinery to support firefighting efforts across all affected cities. The equipment is scheduled to arrive by Sunday (08/23). President Prabowo has also instructed additional personnel to the field.

“Additional pumping and piping machinery for all affected cities, is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. Three battalions, or approximately 1,500 personnel of the Indonesian National Defense Forces (TNI), equipped with individual firefighting gear, will arrive from outside Kalimantan by tomorrow morning to help extinguish the remaining small, yet scattered hotspots,” he added.

The Cabinet Secretary further explained that concerning law enforcement, President Prabowo firmly reiterated that strict legal actions would be taken against any party proven to have engaged in illegal land burning and regulatory violations.

“Firm legal actions will be carried out against every land burner proven to have violated the law,” Cabinet Secretary said.

President Prabowo also emphasized the importance of addressing the impact of forest and land fires on public health.

“[We also need] additional health workers, address health issues, and educate the residents about forest and land fires,” concluded the President. (BPMI of Presidential Secretariat) (NST/MMB)