Indonesian president calls for stricter sanctions against forest fire perpetrators

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for harsher penalties against individuals and companies responsible for igniting wildfires. The country is grappling with its most severe wildfires in a decade, exacerbated by a powerful El Niño weather pattern that has dried out forests and fields. The islands of Borneo and Sumatra have suffered the worst impacts, releasing a smog crisis that has raised respiratory issues among residents, as well as unhealthy air quality in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

During a cabinet meeting, Prabowo expressed zero tolerance for those found culpable and urged the state secretary and the minister of law to explore legal sanctions, potentially branding the act as "ecological terrorism." He directed regional governments to eliminate exemptions permitting smallholders to clear plots of land via fire.

Prabowo also directed the police to initiate criminal investigations against corporations found culpable of violating fire safeguards. As of Thursday, the Indonesian police have initiated 219 criminal investigations tied to the fires, with 162 individuals named as suspects. Additionally, 95 companies are under investigation, though the number of companies suspected of criminal offenses remains undisclosed.

Indonesian authorities have deployed over 50 aircraft for water bombing and cloud seeding to aid in the firefighting efforts, with Japan joining in the operation by sending three CH-47 Chinook helicopters last week. From January to July, fires consumed 202,000 hectares of land, according to government data. Environmental group YKAN estimates that an additional 600,000 hectares were damaged in August.

Forestry minister Raja Juli Antoni cautioned that the wildfires could persist until early November, with the rainy season anticipated to arrive later than expected.