Indonesia approves foreign assistance to fight forest fires

Indonesian authorities have announced they will consider offers of foreign assistance to combat the country's most severe forest fires in over a decade. President Prabowo Subianto recently appointed a new disaster management leader, General Kristomei Sianturi, to oversee firefighting efforts. The Southeast Asian nation is grappling with intense criticism as it struggles to contain the wildfires, which have been raging for months due to an El Niño-driven drought that turned forests and land highly flammable.

The fires have caused respiratory illnesses among hundreds of thousands of people in the worst-hit provinces, and the transboundary haze has worsened air quality up to Malaysia and Singapore, leading to school closures in neighboring countries. Dozens of residents in Palangka Raya, a city in Central Kalimantan, staged a protest at the governor's office due to the thick orange smog that has enveloped their city.

The air pollution index in the region has exceeded the hazardous level of 300, with Katingan district in Central Kalimantan registering a reading of nearly 1,600. Sianturi said he will assess the country's assets to expedite foreign aid, but Malaysia had previously offered only three helicopters and an aircraft, stating that Indonesia is still capable of handling the issue.

Forestry ministry official Satyawan Pudyatmoko has been appointed as chief of a newly formed peatland and mangrove body, tasked with restoring Indonesia's peatland ecosystem and preventing future wildfires.