Indonesian anger builds over wildfires, toxic haze
JAKARTA: Indonesians protested in several cities on Tuesday, raging against wildfires and a toxic haze that has made thousands unwell for weeks on end in a crisis that has engulfed Southeast Asia.
Indonesians are growing increasingly angry over the ongoing wildfires and toxic haze that have plagued the country for weeks, causing widespread illness and economic hardship. Demonstrations took place in major cities including Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru, and Makassar, with protesters expressing frustration with the government's handling of the crisis.
Many pointed fingers at President Prabowo Subianto's administration for its perceived ineptitude and corruption in dealing with the fires that have ravaged vast areas of Borneo and Sumatra since July. The demonstrators chanted, "If we burn, you burn with us!" and demanded the immediate extinguishing of the fires. One protester held up a banner that read, "Haze & Prabowo's Regime = National Disaster."
Residents in Borneo voiced their despair over the haze, which has crippled local businesses and left them with little income. Mothers like Sifra, who has a 29-year-old husband and two children, have been suffering from persistent coughs and weakened immune systems due to the smoke. The government has deployed over 60,000 firefighters and 49 aircraft for dousing efforts and cloud seeding, but many resources have been limited due to the haze itself.
National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Berton Panjaitan reported that more than 1.9 million hectares of land had burned in the first nine months of 2026, with the fires sending pollution levels soaring as far as Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.
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